KEY POINTS:
Juan Carlos Ferrero takes Spanish hopes of a second successive Heineken Open crown into this afternoon's singles final while Philipp Kohlschreiber will chase the first title for Germany in the tournament's 54 years.
Ferrero and Kohlschreiber made short work of yesterday's singles semifinals winning in straight sets with
Kohlschreiber on court for just 65 minutes and Ferrero 31 minutes longer.
On paper, the Spaniard, who has won 11 of the 26 ATP finals he has played and is well ahead in the ranking and prize money stakes, will start a warm favourite but the canny German has shown he will be no pushover having dropped only one set in his four matches.
Winning through to the final at the ASB Tennis Centre is uncharted territory for both players. Ferrero first played in Auckland in 2000 beating Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4 in a first round outer court clash before bowing out in the quarters.
In subsequent appearances he lost first round - both times to qualifiers, including last year when he lost to Nicolas Massu who he beat in the quarters this time.
This is also Kohlschreiber's third appearance.
He too has reached the quarter-finals (in 2004 when he bowed out to eventual champion Dominik Hrbaty after coming through qualifying and last year when he lost to top seed Tommy Robredo). In 2005 he lost in the first round, again after qualifying.
Yesterday against third seed Argentine Juan Monaco, Kohlschreiber hit the court running. He raced through the first set in a tick under half an hour.
The German, the seventh seed and up against his first seeded opponent of the tournament, gave Monaco few chances.
The Argentine, who favoured a two-handed backhand, was forced to run more than he would have liked by the German pocket battleship who repeatedly found the lines with well-placed shots off both hands.
Cashing in on a surfeit of unforced errors, Kohlschreiber turned the screws rarely losing two points in a row.
Monaco tried everything in his bid to make it three-from-three in head-to-head clashes with the German but his best was not good enough.
Fittingly, the match ended when the South American tried to dink a ball over the net but that too failed as it took the net cord and dropped back.
"I was a bit tired," Monaco later admitted after playing singles and doubles on Thursday.
"Yesterday was a long match. Today it was different. Despite losing it has been a very good start to the year. Four matches are good preparation [for the Australian Open]. "He [Kohlschreiber] was unbelievable on important points," said Monaco, who a year ago had to come through qualifying and went out in the quarter-finals. "I was not on my best tennis today."
Kohlschreiber said he had taken a game plan into the match and had pretty much played to it.
"I saw in some of his previous matches he lost his serve a few times and that he maybe was not very confident," said the popular German. "I was able to keep the pressure on his serve.
"I realised from watching him on television his serve was not a weapon - just the way to start the point."
Asked about his preference - for a final opponent - Kohlschreiber said: "if you look at the stats - three wins from three - it would be better if it was [Julien] Benneteau."
It isn't, but he showed enough to suggest he will ready for anything Ferrero throws at him. After the first six games of the second semifinal scores were locked 3-3. Ferrero held serve for 4-3, broke Benneteau in an extended game and held serve to love closing the first set with his first ace.
The tit-for-tat continued in the second set to 4-4 before Ferrero swooped, went to 5-4 and closed it out but not without some anxiety as the plucky Frenchman saved three match points but seeking to make it four he found the net.
"Against [top seed] David Ferrer, Benneteau was amazing," said Ferrero after yesterday's 6-3, 6-4 win.
"He dominated that match. I didn't want to let him dominate our match."
He didn't.
Kohlschreiber will try to win a title which eluded two of his highly-rated countrymen Michael Stich and Tommy Haas.
TODAY'S FINALS
Centre Court, from 1pm:
Sovereign Doubles: Xavier Malisse (BEL)/Jurgen Melzer (AUT) v Luis Horna (PER)/Juan Monaco (ARG) followed by (with 20-minute break)
Sovereign Singles: (4) Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP) v (7) Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER).
