Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan overcame a fighting Tomas Zib of Czech Republic 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 to enter his fourth successive ATP Chennai Open final in Chennai on Saturday night.
Srichaphan, who won the title in 2003, now awaits the winner of the match between defending champion Carlos Moya and Guillermo Garchia Lopez. The Thai had lost to Moya in the final last year.
The tense semi-final encounter saw the second seeded Srichaphan emerge victorious after a 114-minute contest at the Nungambakkam tennis stadium.
Srichaphan was meeting the unseeded Zib for the second time in five years with Srichaphan leading the head-to-head count. Zib had lost to Srichaphan 4-6, 5-7 in a first round tour match in Ho Chi Minh city in 1999.
The Thai was thoroughly tested in the first set which went to the tie-breaker. Zib was faster on court and in his shot production, and Srichaphan was in a spot of bother.
The Czech went into the lead 3-1 with a second game break. Though, Zib was broken back in the sixth, he never relented. In fact, Zib accounted for 20 winners in the match compared to just 12 by Srichaphan.
Both were equal to the task but Zib rarely failed with his eye-catching deep returns and on a few occasions, Srichaphan played into his hands by serving and returning wide, giving leeway for the Czech to attack.
Zib almost came up with double breaks in the ninth and eleventh. On both occasions, Srichaphan had to dig deep and raise his game. He managed to save a break point each and then managed to hold on to his service games.
Zib, ranked way down at 150 to the Thai's 27th rank on the ATP list, played flawlessly and gave a fright to Srichaphan in the 11th game where the latter managed to save two break points, winning the game on the fourth deuce.
In the tie-break, Srichaphan was under pressure when he surrendered the initiative of 4-1 lead and then allowed Zib to level 5-5 before winning the next two points including an ace for the set.
Srichaphan was never given any liberty in the second set as well as Zib constantly counterattacked from the edge of the baseline, except on a few occasions, when the Thai came up with intelligent lobs to bamboozle Zib.
However, the Asian number one, supported by a partisan crowd, secured two breaks in the 5th and ninth games, to win the set and match, realising his goal of making the final this year also.
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