Fourth seed Mario Ancic extended his remarkable comeback from injury on Saturday with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 semi-final victory over South Korea's Lee Hyung-taik at the China Open.
The 22-year-old Croatian, who returned to action this week after missing two months with an injured knee, will meet third seed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, a 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 winner over Thai Paradorn Srichaphan, in Sunday's final.
Eighth seed Lee knocked out Ancic's top-seeded compatriot Ivan Ljubicic in the quarter-finals on Friday and another upset looked on the cards when he twice broke the world number 12 to win the first set.
"When someone beats the world number three you have to be careful," Ancic told reporters.
"That the match was 2-1/4 hours long said it all, it was a very difficult match and not reflected in the score."
The 30-year-old Lee has been playing well above the standard expected from a world number 63 this week and pushed Ancic hard in an entertaining duel, studded with lengthy rallies and top-drawer winners.
Ancic clawed his way back into the contest with a break in the fourth game of the second set before battling through seven deuces to hold serve in the fifth.
Lee then gave up a second service game to effectively concede the second set and was forced to relinquish another in the first game of the third.
The tall Ancic, who has become something of a crowd favourite in Beijing this week, was on the front foot from then on and secured his place in the final when Lee went wide with a forehand.
"I think it was an unbelievable level of tennis today with some breathtaking rallies and I was really happy with my performance," Ancic added.
Baghdatis looked to have a much easier path to the final when he broke sixth seed Paradorn in the fifth game with a beautiful crosscourt winner and lost just one more point in the set.
A change of shirt seemed to galvanise the Thai, however, and he looked a different player in the second set, whipping winners across the net and taking the solitary break he needed to send the match into a decider.
The third set was a thriller with both players regularly forced to defend their serves through a string of deuces.
Paradorn then gifted his opponent three match points only to save them all but the Cypriot was not to be denied when presented with three more two games later, winning the match when the Thai found the net at the end of a marathon rally.
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