Spain's Tommy Robredo reached the final of a Master Series event for the first time on Saturday when he beat Mario Ancic of Croatia 7-5, 6-4 to set up a Hamburg final against Czech Radek Stepanek.
The Barcelona-based eighth seed, a former French Open quarter-finalist, edged a tight first set and completed his victory when Ancic netted a volley on match point.
The towering 22-year-old Croat looked short on energy, having battled back from a set down to win his last three Hamburg matches while Robredo had only dropped one set all week.
Earlier 15th seed Stepanek profited from an excellent start to defeat Argentina's Jose Acasuso 6-4, 7-6.
With the umbrella-like retractable roof over centre court closed to keep out the rain showers, the Czech broke the unseeded Argentine in the first game of the match.
That was enough to secure the first set and he sealed the second-set tiebreak 7-5 on his first match point when Acasuso netted a forehand.
"I was getting ready to play aggressively right from the beginning as I saw that Jose had incredible starts and was winning pretty easily the first sets in his matches," said Stepanek, runner-up at the Paris Masters event in 2004.
"I was trying to be focused right from the beginning and it paid off right away in the first game."
Stepanek, who will break into the world's top 10 for the first time regardless of Sunday's outcome, said he had received a message of congratulation from girlfriend Martina Hingis.
The Swiss former world number one plays Venus Williams in Rome later on Saturday for a place in final of the Italian Open.
He also received glowing praise from his opponent.
"He serves really well and it's very difficult to read. And he mixes up his game with dropshots and slow balls and he never plays two balls the same way," said Acasuso.
World number one Roger Federer and Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal pulled out before the start of the Hamburg tournament due to fatigue after their marathon final at the Rome Masters last Sunday, won by Nadal.
The winner of Sunday's Hamburg final will be the 50th different Masters champion since the series began in 1990.
More from rediff