• BNP Paribas Masters

Federer faces Tsonga in first Paris final

Roger Federer got the job done in straight sets © Getty Images

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At the ninth time of asking, Roger Federer has reached the final of the BNP Paribas Masters after beating Tomas Berdych in Paris.

Federer wasted five match points before losing at the semi-final stage against Gael Monfils last year - but there was no repeat against Berdych, with the Swiss maestro completing a 6-4 6-3 triumph in one hour, 20 minutes.

Berdych entered with reason for optimism, having won three of the last four meetings between the players - yet at no point did he ever look like making it four from five.

In their only meeting this year, which took place in Cincinnati, Berdych went after Federer's second serve, winning 75% of the points contested with the pace off the ball.

This time Federer was serving too well to fall into the same trap: he found the target with 70% of his first deliveries. Berdych did not work a break point, while Federer converted three of six with the lethal efficiency that has made him such a worthy champion down the years.

Berdych said: "I would say, and I'm pretty confident to say, that that's the old Roger. You know, the years that he was really winning everything. We can count the unforced errors that he hit on the fingers of one hand, which is incredible. He started every set really great and just didn't give me any chance at all."

Federer will play Jo Wilfried Tsonga in the final, after the Frenchman won two tense tiebreaks to come from a set down to clinch a 3-6 7-6(1) 7-6(3) victory against American John Isner.

In a marathon contest that lasted just a minute shy of three hours, it was Tsonga who ended up celebrating after holding his nerve when it mattered most - even saving three match points to ensure a home interest in Sunday's final.

Isner - he of the big serve - started the semi-final the stronger, engineering the only break points of the first set and taking one of them to put one foot in the semi-final. But, while Tsonga could make little headway on his opponent's serve he upped his own game in the second set to send matters to a tiebreak - one he had to win to continue his tournament.

That he did in surprisingly one-sided fashion (although he did show off his athleticism to leap over the net at one point), as Isner first exhibited the sort of nerves that would come back to haunt him at crunch time. A deciding tiebreak in the third set always looked to be on the cards too, until Isner managed to create three match point opportunities on Tsonga's serve, with the score 6-5.

But Tsonga held his nerve to save all three - although, in fairness, Isner missed two of them, including a great return chance on a second serve - and force the contest to a match-deciding tiebreak.

That too he would win, moving ahead early with a mini-break that would give him the momentum to go on and book his place in the final.

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