Fifth seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov beat Finland's Jarkko Nieminen 7-6, 6-3 in the semi-final of the Milan Indoors tournament on Saturday to set up a clash with Dutchman Martin Verkerk in the final.

Verkerk reached his first ATP main tour final after a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 win over Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic in the other semi-final.

The stocky Verkerk got off to a sluggish start to lose the opening set 6-3 but began his comeback with some powerful serving as he took the second.

Ljubicic kept up the fight in the decisive set but the Dutchman's power-play proved to be too much for him in the tiebreak which Verkerk won 7-1.

The tall Dutchman was incredulous. "It's amazing, you dream about this. I won two challenger events in my career but I've played on the ATP circuit for only eight months and now I have already reached one final.

"I have to be honest, it could have gone either way. In the first two sets he was better than me, in the final set I was better."

BUSINESS AS USUAL

Kafelnikov reached his 46th career final overcoming the stubborn challenge of Nieminen, who had beaten the Russian in the second round of last month'sAustralian Open.

The 28-year-old won the Milan title in 1995 and seems to have recovered from the varicose vein surgery on his left leg in December last year.

"I am satisfied. It feels good. This tournament is going to be successful regardless of what happens in the final. But I will try as hard as I can to add another title to my collection," said Kafelnikov.

When asked about his opponent in tomorrow's final Kafelnikov was cautious. "He's an aggressive player, he's got a good serve and is very talented.

"It's going to be a difficult match, I have to be on top of my game. If I am off, he will outplay me."