Spain's Rafael Nadal stormed back to beat French sensation Richard Gasquet on Saturday and set up a Monte Carlo Masters final against defending champion Guillermo Coria.
Eleventh seed Nadal, the most consistent player on clay this year, ended Gasquet's amazing run with a 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory in an absorbing battle between the two 18-year-olds.
Earlier on a blustery day at the Country Club Argentine Coria came through a scrappy contest against twice former winner Juan Carlos Ferrero, winning 6-2, 7-5.
Nadal, two weeks older than Gasquet, is the first teenager to reach the final here since Andrei Medvedev in 1994 but he had to be at his tenacious best to beat the French qualifier who ended Roger Federer's 25-match winning streak the previous day.
"I'm very happy to be in my second (Masters Series) final in a row," said Nadal, who Coria earlier described as the best claycourt player in the world.
"If he says I'm the best that means I've already won the final! It's going to be a very difficult match, he won here last year and reached the final in Hamburg and the French Open.
"I have a lot of confidence though and I just hope that I can reach the level I did in Miami."
To a dramatic backdrop of waves crashing against the Riviera coast, the two young guns pounded eachother for nearly three hours of enthralling claycourt tennis.
While the earlier semi-final between the past champions had done little to warm the shivering fans, Nadal and Gasquet had them on the edge of their seats.
Nadal served for the first set at 5-4 and 6-5 but Gasquet came up with some inspirational tennis, particularly off his lethal backhand, snatching a tight first set tiebreak 8-6.
Gasquet went ahead 2-0 in the second set before Nadal launched his comeback, taking the next five games with the kind of tennis that has earned him two claycourt titles this year.
Gasquet twice needed treatment from the trainer, the second time for leg cramps, but the stocky Frenchman continued to stretch Nadal, carving out four break points at 2-2 in the decider and another one at 3-3.
His failure to take those chances proved his downfall, however, the relentless Nadal breaking in the eighth game before clinching victory when Gasquet sent a backhand into the net.
"I've played 17 matches in three weeks and two long ones here," said Gasquet, who won two consecutive Challenger events prior to qualifying for Monte Carlo.
"When the break points came in the third I was not thinking clearly enough to take them because I was very tired."
SECOND FINAL
Coria stayed on course for a second successive Monte Carlo title when he beat Ferrero after a morning rain delay.
"I'm very happy to be in the final. When I arrived here I was just trying to get back to my level," said Coria, who is playing his first claycourt event since losing in the French Open final last year and then undergoing shoulder surgery.
Ferrero, winner in 2002 and 2003, struggled for rhythm in the first set but hit a purple patch to lead 4-0 in the second.
The wily Coria then responded with two service breaks and then broke again at 5-5 as Ferrero's resistance crumbled.
Coria moved ahead 40-0 as he served for the match and Ferrero dumped an attempted drop shot into the bottom of the net to end a disappointing contest.
"The turning point of the second set was when I broke back at 0-4, from then on I played a great match," said Coria.
Ferrero said he felt his game was coming together after last year's problems with illness and injury.
"The four games I played to go 4-0 up were near my best," he said. "I was hitting my forehand great. He looked like he had given up the set but I relaxed too much and he started fighting again."
Sunday's final will be a chance for Nadal to gain revenge after losing his only other meeting with Coria, two years ago here in Monte Carlo.
More from rediff