Sugiyama and her Slovakian partner Daniela Hantuchova defeated Argentina's Gisela Dulko and Nadia Petrova of Russia 7-6(4), 7-5 on Friday to advance to the doubles final at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.

Sugiyama and Hantuchova will face Alisa Kleybanova of Russia and Italian Francesca Schiavone, who shocked top-seeded Cara Black of Zimbabwe and American Liezel Huber 7-6(5), 6-3 in the day's second semifinal at Ariake Tennis Forest Park.

Sugiyama became the first Japanese player to reach the doubles final in the Tokyo event. The 34-year-old will now take one last shot at a 39th career WTA doubles title on Saturday in what promises to be an emotional farewell in front of her home fans.

Sugiyama and Hantuchova lost to Venus and Serena Williams in the Australian Open final in January and tasted defeat again in the championship match at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome in May, falling to Taiwan's Hsieh Su-wei and Peng Shuai of China.

"Being in the final in the last tournament of your career is like a dream. I'm glad that we've come this far," said Sugiyama, who was forced to retire during her first-round singles match here on Monday because of illness.

"Tomorrow we will just go out there and try to play our own brand of doubles. We have nothing to lose. It's going to be a great challenge."

Hantuchova said, "It was another fantastic match for us. Today Ai hit some unbelievable shots when I was nervous at the end of the match. She made the difference. I just can't believe we are in another final together."

Sugiyama decided to call time on her career last month amid a frustrating slide in form that has seen her plummet down the world rankings.