Third seed Philippoussis needed only 67 minutes to overpower the 19-year-old Swede, reaching his third final since Wimbledon.

"I was serving huge today, and I was just trying to make him play," said Philippoussis.

Although the gutsy and hard-hitting Soderling was outmatched, strong serves and ground strokes saw him off to a quick start, up 4-2 in the first set.

But Soderling, ranked 91st in the world and playing in his first career ATP semifinal, failed to capitalise, losing the next four games and the set 6-4.

"I think he has a lot of potential, he's definitely got a lot of weapons," Philippoussis said of his opponent.

The Australian then dominated most of the second set despite momentarily losing his concentration in anticipation of Sunday's final.

"I lost the timing in the second set... I got it back but I was a little bit too tense and eager to make it to the finals," he said.

Of his next opponent he said: "He's a tough player who returns well. It's going to be a tough match, no doubt."

Novak downed Wayne Arthurs, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 to earn a place in the final, and a victory Sunday would give the 27-year-old his second ATP tournament triumph this year, following his victory at Gstaad.

Twelfth in the current ATP standings, Novak overcame the Australian Davis Cup team member with powerful serves and steady shots from the baseline.

Arthurs, playing in only his second ATP semifinal of the year, started the match well and looked on his way to outserving the Czech.

"The first set was very strange because he was serving very fast and very well. It was a good weapon for him," Novak said.

Up 8/7 in the tiebreaker, Arthurs pocketed the first set 7-6 with a second-service ace as Novak gave away an early 4/2 lead.

The slow pace continued in the second set as the match swung back and forth on service, until Arthurs, down 4-3 in the second, double-faulted on double break-point to help Novak to a 6-3 win.