COMMACK, N.Y. -- James Blake upset No. 7 Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco 6-3, 6-1 in 59 minutes Saturday night to advance to the finals of the TD Waterhouse Cup.
Blake, a member of last year's Davis Cup team, will oppose defending champion Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand in Sunday's final.
Srichaphan, the No. 1 seed, needed just 57 minutes to beat wild-card Nicolas Kiefer of Germany 6-0, 6-2.
Blake, who has won 10 of his last 13 matches on hardcourt and advanced to his first final of the year, has defeated Srichaphan in all three of their previous meetings. In their last, the finals at Washington, D.C., in 2002, Blake won in three sets for his only victory in six years on the ATP Tour.
Blake attributed his victory Saturday to scouting El Aynaoui's victory over Gustavo Kuerten on Friday night.
"I got a good read on Younes' serve early," Blake said. "I knew that he won 16 straight points on his serve in beating Kuerten last night. When I broke him early, I think he lost some of his confidence.
"I'm going to go after Srichaphan the same way. His serve is his big weapon and he can hit winners from anywhere. I've got to take that away."
El Aynaoui said he was mentally drained from the previous night's match and the birth of a son on Thursday.
"Beating Kuerten last night and getting the news of the birth of my third son took a lot out of me," he said. "There was just too much emotion going because I got very little sleep. My serve wasn't working at all."
Blake won 22 of 24 first-serve points, compared to 21 of 43 for El Aynaoui.
Srichaphan, who lost his two previous matches against Kiefer, last defeated the German in Tokyo in 1999.
"I am playing with a great deal of confidence," said the native of Thailand, who won the first of his three ATP titles here last year on the hardcourt surface.
"Lately I have been practicing a great deal on clay, as I found that helps me to be more accurate on hardcourt," Srichaphan said. "I was ready for this week, and hopefully that will carry over to the US Open."
Srichaphan won his second semifinal in four tries this year, and hasn't lost a set in his four matches this week. The victory also improved his record for the year, his eighth on the tour, to 34-20.
Srichaphan registered four aces, while Kiefer had just one. He also won 19 of 20 first-serve points, as opposed to 12 of 22 for the loser.
Kiefer double-faulted five times, while Srichaphan had just one.
"I didn't have the best feeling going into the match," Kiefer said. "He got off to such a fast start that I was playing catch-up the whole way. Still, I'm happy with the week."
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