American sixth seed Andy Roddick will play unseeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in the final of the Dubai Championships on Saturday.
Roddick overcame third seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia 7-6, 6-3 while Lopez recovered from 2-5 in the final set to beat fifth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.
"I'm excited," said Roddick. "I played well tonight and I played the right way. I had to, otherwise I wasn't going to win."
The first set was tight with Djokovic matching Roddick's serve and the American trading on equal terms in the rallies.
The only break point fell to the Serb when he got to 40-15 while leading 2-1 but Roddick fired two big serves that Djokovic was unable to play effectively.
Having lost the first set, Djokovic looked unlikely to turn the match around in the second.
He fought off a break point when Roddick led 1-0 and another at 2-1 and was broken for 5-3 after a backhand error.
"He wasn't missing at all in the first set," Roddick said. "He wasn't missing serves and I couldn't get into his service games. I definitely had to try to stay the course and try and tough out some games before I got the momentum on my side there in the tiebreak."
Djokovic knew Roddick felt comfortable on the surface, and that made him uneasy.
NERVOUS DJOKOVIC
"I was nervous from the start," Djokovic told reporters. "I didn't return well, although of course considering he has the strongest serve in tennis it's not that easy to get the rhythm.
"So I was trying to hold my serve and I was doing it pretty well in the first set.
"I had a couple of break points but he served out well so I didn't use the opportunities that were given to me. That was the difference," he added.
"It could have gone either way if I'd won that first set."
Lopez made the worst possible start against Davydenko, salvaging just one point from the first three games, and although he broke back in the fifth game Davydenko broke again to lead 4-2.
Lopez then made the first of his two recoveries, winning the next four games to take the set, closing it out with his fourth ace.
There was one break in the second set when Lopez netted a forehand at 5-4 and the Russian was soon on top in the third.
With Lopez struggling to find consistency in all areas of his game, Davydenko broke to lead 3-1 and 5-2.
But Lopez improved, used the aggression he had earlier produced only in patches and swept the final five games.
"It was really good for me because to win a match from 5-2 in the third is tough," said 41st-ranked Lopes. "I made it but I think I was a little bit lucky."
Davydenko made crucial mistakes at the wrong time.
"At 5-3 I thought I would win the match," he said. "It was bad luck. On a few points on my serve I made a mistake and he played pretty well, tried to make no mistakes and pushed the ball back. It should have been my match but he won."
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