Sat Jan 5 14:06:35 2008

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Nadal wins three-set thriller in Chennai

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Chennai, India (Sports Network) - Rafael Nadal needed three tiebreakers, but still pulled out a semifinal victory over fellow Spaniard Carlos Moya to advance to the title match at the season-opening Chennai Open.

The top-seeded Nadal earned a 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (7-1) triumph in just under four hours and will face fourth-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny in Sunday's final.

Youzhny had a much easier semifinal with a 6-2, 6-3 win over 19-year-old Croatian Marin Cilic.

Nadal appeared on his way out of the tournament, falling behind 4-0 in the second-set tiebreaker. He roared back to win it, saving four match points, but the third-seeded Moya again had his friend on the ropes in the third set.

Moya broke serve for a 3-2 lead and had a chance to serve it out at 5-4, but the epic 10th game went Nadal's way and the two held serve over the final two games to force still another tiebreaker.

Nadal gained the upper hand early in the last tiebreaker, racing out to a 5-0 lead before closing it out just six minutes before the four-hour mark.

Youzhny, meanwhile, needed just one hour and 23 minutes to dispatch Cilic and will now try for his fourth career ATP singles title. He won once last year at Rotterdam and was also a finalist twice in 2007.

Nadal had a banner 2007 campaign with six titles and will try for his 24th career crown on Sunday.

The 21-year-old Nadal has won six of the nine lifetime matchups with 25-year- old Youzhny, including the last three. Youzhny's last victory in the series came last February in a quarterfinal at Dubai.