Nieminen to play Benneteau in Sydney final

SYDNEY: Journeymen Jarkko Nieminen and Julien Benneteau earned themselves a rare ATP title shot at the Sydney International after beating higher ranked semi-final opponents on Friday.

Finland's Nieminen, 30, needed a marathon 26-point tiebreaker before prevailing over Uzbekistan's 67th-ranked Denis Istomin 7-6 (14/12), 6-3 in 1hr 44min to reach his 12th career ATP final on Saturday.

French world No.49 Benneteau required six match points and had to win through a see-sawing 14-minute final game before seeing off Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-4, 6-4 in almost two hours.

Left-hander Nieminen, ranked 77, has only won one title -- in Auckland six years ago -- and was a beaten Sydney finalist in 2009 against David Nalbandian.

He is bidding to become the first qualifier to win the tournament since South Korea's Lee Hyung-Taik claimed the title nine years ago.

Benneteau, 30, a semi-finalist here two years ago, will be playing in his sixth final and has yet to win a title.

The Frenchman, who improved his record against Baghdatis to 4-2, has yet to drop a set this week after wins over Andreas Seppi, fourth seed Feliciano Lopez and Alex Bogomolov Jr.

Former Sydney winner Baghdatis was disappointed with his performance a few days ahead of the Australian Open, where he was a beaten finalist against Roger Federer six years ago. (AFP)