Tim Henman meets American Andy Roddick in the semi-finals of the Paris Masters today after defeating third seed Roger Federer in straight sets on Friday.
The unseeded Henman beat Wimbledon champion Federer 7-6, 6-1.
He now faces Roddick, who celebrated his climb to the summit of men's tennis by beating Jonas Bjorkman 7-5, 7-6 on Friday.
Against a tiring opponent, Henman played top quality serve-volley tennis particularly when saving one of two set points in the first set with an astonishing backhand recovery shot from the back of the court.
Roddick, who took over top spot in the rankings just 24 hours ago, was always in control on his own serve in the first set against Bjorkman and in one game won all four points with aces.
Bjorkman hung in there bravely before the American broke his serve in the 12th game thanks to two superb backhand passes from the baseline.
The second set followed a similar pattern although Bjorkman was a net cord away from gaining a break point in the 10th game. The tiebreak was a rout, however, the U.S. Open champion winning it 7-0 and ending with 19 aces all told.
Roddick's win ended a 30-year run of Swedish success.
Swedish men had won at least one singles title in every year since 1973. But Bjorkman was his nation's last hope of a 2003 title in the final tournament of the regular season.
Roddick was second seed in the tournament behind French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, the world number one until Thursday when he was beaten by Czech Jiri Novak and Roddick defeated Spain's Tommy Robredo.
The 21-year-old Roddick is putting clear water between him and his Spanish rival in the rankings and victory against Henman on Saturday would mean Federer could not claim the year-end number one spot.
Henman was on the back foot for much of the first set and saved two set points in the 12th game.
Federer netted a simple forehand with the opposite court wide open to give away the first and on the second Henman, scrambling back after being lobbed, turned and hit a blind backhand down the line which Federer hit long.
Henman wasted one set point in the tiebreak with a double fault but won it on his third. Federer, winner of six tournaments this year, collapsed in the second set once his serve had been broken in the fourth game.
"I wasted my chances in the first set and because I was so tired I couldn't fight back in the second," Federer said.
EASTERN FINAL
Unseeded Andrei Pavel, who was invited to play in Paris only last Friday, booked an eastern European semi-final against Novak when he beat fifth seed Rainer Schuettler 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Novak, seeded 14, thrashed Moroccan qualifier Hicham Arazi 6-2, 6-1.
Pavel was out for six months with back and wrist problems and was low down on the list of reserves for this tournament. But everyone above him pulled out and "now one week later I am in the semi-finals. It's exciting," he said.
His last 16 opponent here, fourth seed Guillermo Coria, withdrew with a fever and on Friday his German opponent finally ran out of gas after playing in 31 tournaments in 2003.
"Maybe I was little bit more fresh than he was. He had a very difficult year behind him," said Pavel.
Finalist in the Australian Open in January, Schuettler will become the first and only player to compete in 100 singles matches this season when he takes part in the season-ending Masters Cup in Houston next month.
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