Marcos Baghdatis saw off German favourite Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6 6-4 to book a place in the final of the Halle Open on Saturday. Baghdatis, the eighth seed from Cyprus, will play Czech fourth seed Tomas Berdych, who reached the final for the second year in succession by beating Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 7-6 6-4 in Saturday's first semi-final.
Both Baghdatis and Berdych stepped up their game at key moments to win tight matches on the grass Stadium Court. Baghdatis, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon last year, was under pressure throughout the first set as Kohlschreiber started strongly.
The German failed to take his chances, though, missing two breakpoints when he had his opponent on the ropes in game nine. The set went to a tie-break and a bad forehand miss from Kohlschreiber set the tone as Baghdatis broke three times to take it 7-1.
The 23-year-old Kohlschreiber, who won his first ATP tournament in Munich this year, had chances in the second set too but once again Baghdatis was too good for him on the crucial points. The Cypriot came from 0-40 down to hold serve in game six and then broke Kohlschreiber in the next to set up victory in one hour 40 minutes.
Berdych, who lost to Roger Federer in last year's final, was likewise just that little bit too good for the unseeded Nieminen. The Czech won the first-set tiebreak 7-5 but then fell 4-3 behind in the second when he double-faulted on breakpoint. Berdych pulled himself together to take the next three games, including two breaks of serve, to win in one hour 25 minutes.
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