Fernando Gonzalez claimed a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 victory over third-seeded American Andy Roddick to reach the final of the Vienna Open on Saturday.
The fifth seed from Chile will face top seed and defending champion Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, who enjoyed a comparatively easy 6-1, 6-4 win over Slovak Dominik Hrbaty.
"I'm very happy with the way I am playing because I played at a top level for two hours," said Gonzalez.
"Sometimes you have to go for it. Especially against Andy you have to win the match. You cannot wait for the other player to lose it.
"It was a very mental match and very tough. He is a great player and put a lot a lot of pressure on me."
Gonzalez last reached a final a year ago in Basel, when he defeated Marcos Baghdatis to win his seventh career title.
He had lost his previous four matches against Roddick, but played almost flawlessly for more than two hours to edge through against an opponent who, after a difficult first set, did almost nothing wrong.
Only one break decided each of the first two sets. Gonzalez came out firing, hitting three aces in his first service game and then breaking for 2-1 when Roddick put a forehand wide.
Roddick had to hold off four set points at 3-5 before Gonzalez served out the set to love.
However, the American gradually began to assert himself in the second set and broke for 4-2 when Gonzalez netted a fiercely-struck forehand.
That was enough to take the match to a decider in which neither player earned a break point. The inevitable tiebreak hinged on one mini-break break, secured when Gonzalez ripped a backhand pass for a 2-0 lead.
"I can't really pick apart anything I did too badly, and today I just told Fernando, 'Too good'," Roddick told reporters.
"I've never seen him pass so well. I actually won a lot of points in our previous matches this year on getting in, but I thought he did a good job of passing today.
"In the tiebreak he didn't miss one ball. We have to give credit where credit is due."
Incredibly, Ljubicic has yet to face a break point in his nine matches in Vienna over the past two years, and he made a perfect start by breaking Hrbaty in the opening game.
Hrbaty struggled in every service game in the first set, dropping his serve three times and going to deuce on the only occasion he managed to hold.
As he surrendered four game points in the final game of the set the helpless Slovak was reduced to laughter, at one stage covering his eyes and flapping vainly with his racquet.
But he got down to more serious business in the second set and Ljubicic had to work harder for his place in the final.
Neither player earned a break point until, at 5-4, when Hrbaty netted a forehand to concede on Ljubicic's second match point.
"The first set was very comfortable," said Ljubicic. "I played great, nothing to complain about. Second set it was more even. He played a little bit better and I wanted more to win so I wasn't that relaxed.
"It was good to save the energy for tomorrow because it's going to be a long one. We practised almost every day together here and we know each other so well.
"I know exactly what he's going to do and he knows exactly what I'm going to do, and the winner is going to be the one who does that better."
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