Basel: World number three Novak Djokovic saved three match points before bouncing back to beat Radek Stepanek 6-7, 7-5, 6-2 on Saturday and reach the final of the Swiss Indoors.
The Serbian second seed will face either world number one Roger Federer or unseeded Marco Chiudinelli in Sunday's final.
"I served quite badly throughout the match and on this surface its crucial to serve well," Djokovic told reporters. "It was a very difficult match."
Neither player managed a break in the first set before Czech Stepanek went 5-2 up in the tiebreak.
Although Djokovic managed to pull two points back, he then produced two unforced errors to hand Stepanek the set.
The second set also went with serve until the dramatic 10th game when Stepanek held a 40-0 lead and three match points after some erratic serving from the Serb.
Djokovic regained his composure and managed to save all three to hold serve, then broke his opponent in the following game with a cross-court pass.
"That game was terrible for me," said Djokovic. "I just tried to get some first serves in and managed to do it."
The Serb produced another break at the start of the third set as the clearly shaken Stepanek, who had dominated much of the match, lost his nerve.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, November 08, 2009, 10:10