The American third seed, John Isner, has become the first finalist at Auckland's Heineken Open tennis tournament.
Isner beat the Spaniard, Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 6-7 6-4, in the first semi-final of the day.
While the 14th-ranked American dominated his opponent in the first set, Bautista Agut made Isner fight for every point in the second, forcing it to a tie-break.
But the 2010 Heineken Open Champion was too strong in the third, and held on to take his place in tomorrow's final.
Isner will meet either the four-time defending champion, David Ferrer, or the 62nd ranked Yen Hsun Lu from Taipei, in that match.
While Lu is the undisputed underdog in the second semi-final, he says he will fight for every point against world number three, because he has nothing to lose.
