Friday was a hectic day at the Heineken tennis Open as organisers made up for lost time following Thursday's poor weather in Auckland.
The singles finalists have been decided - the defending champion David Ferrer of Spain will play the veteran Belgian Olivier Rochus for the title.
The third seed Fernando Verdasco finished off his rain-interrupted quarter-final from Thursday night, easing past his doubles partner Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-5 6-4 and into his semi-final against Ferrer, who needed three sets to beat Colombian Alejandro Falla 6-4 4-6 6-3.
Then Rochus also took three sets to see off the former champion Phillip Kohlschreiber in the first semi, the German winning the first set in a tiebreak - then losing his way and seven straight games... before waking up in the third set. But while Kohlschreiber saved 3 match points, the diminutive Rochus closed it out 6-7 6-1 6-4.
Ferrer took centre court again in blazing late afternoon sunshine and wasted no time, the top seed booking his third final without facing a break point, easily beating Verdasco 6-3 6-4.
