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Hard-serving Ljubicic faces Blake in Bangkok final

The Croatian demolished local hero Paradorn Srichapham 6-3, 6-2 in a semi-final encounter on Saturday lasting just 67 minutes.

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BANGKOK: Power-hitting Ivan Ljubicic will aim to stay untouchable on serve when he faces James Blake in Sunday's final of the Thailand Open.   

The Croatian showed why he was seeded number one at this tournament, demolishing local hero Paradorn Srichapham 6-3, 6-2 in a semi-final encounter on Saturday lasting just 67 minutes. Ljubicic served his 17th ace to seal the match against the Thai.   

Ljubicic, the world number three, is now close to clinching a place in November's season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai behind Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.   

The 27-year-old Ljubicic faces Blake, the world number nine, who earlier denied Marat Safin his first tournament final in more than a year after staging a comeback to win 3-6, 6-4,7-6 (7/3).   

The Croatian vowed to come out firing when he goes for his fifth win without loss against Blake, who is also chasing a Shanghai spot on provisional seventh position thanks to his debut-week run in Bangkok.   

"My serve is my big weapon, that's where I earn my wins," said Ljubicic.   

"When you have a weapon you'd better use it," said the holder of 2006 titles in Chennai and Zagreb.   

"Blake will be counting on his forehand, that's a shot that I have to stop."   

Ljubicic has now won five in a row over Paradorn, who staged a miracle recovery in the quarter-finals to beat Tim Henman from 5-2 down in the final set. Paradorn was competing in a second straight semi-final after achieving the last four at Beijing.    

Ljubicic praised Paradorn, and said he had to block out the crowd cheering for their hero in order to concentrate on his game.    

"I'm sorry to have beaten Paradorn in Thailand. I see the fire is back in his eyes, that's great."    

Blake, winner in Adelaide, Las Vegas and Indianapolis, withstood the Safin firestorm. The mercurial Russian smashed a racket at a heated moment in the second set as he was broken for the first time to drop to 2-3.   

The former world number one and two-time Grand Slam winner last played a final against Federer at Halle, Germany, in June, 2005, just before a knee injury began to plague his game.   

"When he's on his best he can give everyone fits," said third-seed Blake.   

"I had to weather the storm. Often, you are at his mercy. I've had a few more matches than he has this season," said the American, 49-21 this season.    

Safin, who has lifted his ranking from 104 during the summer to its current 55th after the knee injury, said he had no luck in the struggle lasting nearly two hours.   

"It slipped away," said the 26-year-old. "I was up a break in the third and it slipped away, he broke back and then the tiebreak was a disaster.   

"I was so close to being in the final. This is the third time this year it's happened like this for me. I wish I could break through that barrier."   

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