Cheng had reached the last four stage of the competition with a 4-1 victory over Austria’s Liu Jia, leaving the number two seed facing the challenge of Hong Kong’s Tie Yana.

The semi-final was their seventh meeting at international level, with Cheng having only prevailed on one previous occasion.

Another defeat looked a possibility after Tie triumphed in the opening game of the match, but she came back to win 8-11, 15-13, 11-8, 8-11, 11-9, 11-7.

“I was a late substitute for this tournament, so I was pretty relaxed today,” Cheng said afterwards.

“I just try my best.”

The second semi-final saw Japan’s Miu Hirano claim a surprise victory over the top seed Feng Tianwei.

Hirano had come into the contest on a high, having beaten her compatriot Mima Ito 4-1 in their quarter-final encounter.

Having won the battle of the Japanese teenage talents, Hirano recovered from a poor start against Singapore’s Feng to take control of the match.

After a closely fought sixth game of the match, the 16-year-old prevailed 3-11, 11-6, 7-11, 13-11, 11-9, 15-13.

Should Hirano triumph in the final, the Japanese player would become the youngest winner of the Women's World Cup.