China's defending champion Zheng into Palermo final

Chinese top seed Zheng Qinwen reached her first final since the Australian Open on Saturday with a straight-sets win over Frenchwoman Diane Parry in Palermo.

Zheng, who is defending the title after winning her maiden WTA trophy in Sicily last year, won 7-5, 6-4 to set up a Sunday meeting with Karolina Muchova.

The world No 7 enjoyed a strong start to the year with her run in Melbourne, when she lost in the final to Aryna Sabalenka, but was playing in her first semifinal since.

"Tonight I was more pumped than other matches," Zheng said.

"She played really well and she has a tough game. She has a really good touch on clay court. It's not easy to play against her. She has a lot of change of rhythm, variation."

The 21-year-old took the first set with a hold in the 12th game following a run of three consecutive breaks.

A single break in the third game of the second set was enough as Parry failed to make any more inroads into the Zheng serve.

In the other last-four match, last year's French Open runner-up Muchova thrashed Irina-Camelia Begu 6-1, 6-1.