Gstaad, Switzerland (Sports Network) - Fifth-seeded Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu and Italian Andreas Seppi advanced to the final of the Swiss Open Gstaad by recording semifinal wins on Saturday.
Mathieu, the only seeded player remaining, downed Czech qualifier Radek Stepanek, 6-3, 6-4, while Seppi stopped Russian Igor Andreev, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) on the red clay of Roy Emerson Arena.
Seppi downed Andreev, a former finalist at this event, for the first time in five meetings. Sunday will mark his first final appearance, becoming the first Italian to advance to the title match at this tournament since Adriano Panatta in 1976.
Andreev celebrated his 24th birthday on Saturday.
Mathieu, meanwhile, needed just 73 minutes to cruise to his fifth title match. He own three titles, last winning the Casablanca crown in April.
Mathieu, the 28th ranked player in the world, has won the only two meetings lifetime against Seppi, who is ranked 111th in the world.
Gstaad, Switzerland (Sports Network) - Former finalist Igor Andreev of Russia upset defending champion Richard Gasquet in Friday's quarterfinal action at the Swiss Open Gstaad.
The 2004 runner-up Andreev, a wild card this week, knocked out the third- seeded Gasquet 7-5, 6-2 on the red clay at Roy Emerson Arena. The French Gasquet was riding a seven-match winning streak at this tournament, including a victory over Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in last year's finale.
Gasquet reached the semifinals at Wimbledon last week, only to lose to Swiss great Roger Federer.
Andreev, who will turn 24 on Saturday, posted his ninth career victory against a top-10 player by dousing Gasquet on Day 5. Gasquet made his debut in the top 10 just this week.
Fifth-seeded Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu avoided an upset by holding off countryman Gael Monfils 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, while another upset occurred when Czech qualifier Radek Stepanek took out sixth-seeded Frenchman Marc Gicquel 6-3, 6-3.
One other quarterfinal result saw Italian Andreas Seppi stop Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello 6-4, 6-0.
Saturday's semifinals will pit Mathieu against Stepanek and Andreev versus Seppi. Mathieu is the only seed still standing here.
Gstaad, Switzerland (Sports Network) - Fourth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany was one of only two first-round winners on a rainy Monday at the 2007 Swiss Open Gstaad.
Kohlschreiber advanced by edging out Czech Jan Hernych 7-6 (7-0), 7-6 (7-3) on the red clay at Roy Emerson Arena. The start of play was delayed by torrential rain.
In other opening-round action, Belgian Kristof Vliegen knocked out former champion Gaston Gaudio of Argentina 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4. The fading Gaudio, the 2004 French Open champ, captured this event in 2005 and was the runner-up here in 2002.
Croatian Marin Cilic was tied with Czech Radek Stepanek 4-4 in the first set, while Italian Andreas Seppi was leading Spaniard Bartolome Salva-Vidal 3-1 in the opening stanza when play was suspended on Day 1. Another match was on court, as Spaniard Albert Montanes and Russian Igor Andreev just got underway when rain forced them back to the clubhouse.
Two other matches were postponed until Tuesday, including one between second- seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny and Austrian Stefan Koubek.
This week's top seed is Russian star Nikolay Davydenko. Defending champion Richard Gasquet of France, seeded third this week, topped Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in last year's Gstaad finale.
Gstaad, Switzerland (Sports Network) - Fifth-seeded Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu and Italian Andreas Seppi advanced to the final of the Swiss Open Gstaad by recording semifinal wins on Saturday.
