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Pune - Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic saved four match points and served 28 aces on Saturday to stun second seed Ricardas Berankis in a thrilling semi-final of India's only ATP tournament.
The left-handed Vesely came back from a set down to edge out Lithuania's Berankis 6-7 (8/10), 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (9/7) in three hours and two minutes in the western city of Pune.
Vesely, 26, reached his first ATP Tour final in almost five years to face Egor Gerasimov, who downed James Duckworth 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 in the second semi, on Sunday.
Vesely, with a world ranking of 107, trailed 3-6 in the final set tie-break before winning it 9-7.
"I have been lucky twice," Vesely, who won his quarter-final clash after surviving two match points on Friday, said.
"I really wanted to do well in the tie-break (and) I did. At 3-6 I knew I had two serves... at the end I was just lucky. Really happy to be in the finals."
Vesely levelled his head-to-head ATP series record against 73rd-ranked Berankis at 1-1. At last year's US Open, Berankis defeated Vesely to reach the second round.
In the second match of the day, eight-seed Gerasimov of Belarus had it relatively easy against his Australian opponent, winning in one hour and 30 minutes.
The 27-year-old Gerasimov, world-ranked 90th, will be playing in his first ATP Tour final.
