Julien Benneteau has survived a major case of the jitters to defeat former champion Marcos Baghdatis 6-4 6-4 and progress to the men's final at the Sydney International.
He'll meet Finland's Jarkko Nieminen in the decider on Saturday night.
After claiming the first set, Benneteau secured the crucial break in the fifth game of the second and stepped up to serve for the match at 5-4.
It was only then that the real drama began as the Frenchman squandered five match points and saved three breaks before eventually sealing the deal.
The trouble began when Benneteau produced a double fault on his first match point.
He sprayed an attempted backhand wide on his second attempt and produced another double fault, which missed by at least a metre, on deuce to open the door for Baghdatis.
The Frenchman produced a brilliant volley on break point but squandered two more match points, both due to unforced errors on his forehand side.
After saving another break with a booming first serve, he looked to have the match won before Baghdatis produced a miraculous running lob that just eluded Benneteau to prolong the match.
Benneteau's erratic serve saved a third potential break before Baghdatis shanked a backhand on the sixth match point to gift the Frenchman victory in just under two hours.
"Until my first match point it was a good game," a sheepish Benneteau said when asked if nerves got the better of him in the final game.
"Because even if I lost some points I tried to do something. I made two serve and volleys and he made two good returns, but it was okay because it was the good way to play to be aggressive."
"My first match point I made a double fault and after that I started to think a little bit too much … this was not good."
"After that, it was tough for me. When I had some match points I could not make one first serve, so after that I was under pressure on my second serve and he returned well."
A disappointed Baghdatis conceded he was too tentative throughout the match but paid tribute to his opponent.
"Benneteau played very well today, he was really feeling the ball very well," Baghdatis said.
"I was a bit tight again. I wasn't so aggressive. I tried but my shots were not heavy enough."
"He played very, very smart, very aggressive and was serving very well."
"I had my chances but I didn't take them and he did - basically that's it."
Earlier, Nieminen ended qualifier Denis Istomin's golden run in straight sets.
Nieminen clinched an epic first set 14-12 in the tiebreaker before closing it out 7-6 (14-12) 6-3 to progress to the decider.
"I'm feeling great, this is my best week for I don't know for how long," Nieminen, who lost the 2009 final against David Nalbandian, said.
"I really enjoy that moment now being in the finals again now second time here."
"It's just great that I start the year like this. I struggled in the beginning of the last year and this is a really, really great confidence boost for me."
"I think every player wants have to a good start here in Australia, and I really tried to come back to the top."
"I had very good off-season, so I'm very happy that it's paying off already now."