Czech qualifier Radek Stepanek booked his place in the semi-finals of the 2.45-million-euro Paris Masters on Friday with a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 win over Mikhail Youzhny, the man who knocked out defending champion Tim Henman the day before. The 25-year-old Stepanek, ranked a modest 63 in the world, has never played in a final on the tour in eight years as a professional but in an event stripped of five of the world's top ten, he has seized a golden opportunity to try and put that right.
On Saturday, he will face either Belarussian Max Mirnyi, also a qualifier who put out top seed Andy Roddick in the third round, or Sweden's Robin Soderling for a place in Sunday's final.
Youzhny, the winner in St Petersburg, had been the overwhelming favourite to see off Stepanek who hasn't played in a semi-final since July 2003, but the Czech has been in sparkling form all week.
He hasn't dropped a set, has yet to face a seeded player and on Friday sensed that he may never be handed a better chance to end his long wait for a breakthrough.
He dominated the tie-break and then gained the decisive break of serve in the second game of the second set before taking the match after 1hr 26min when Youzhny netted a service return.
In the day's two other quarter-finals, Spain's Feliciano Lopez faces 13th seed Guillermo Canas of Argentina while second-seeded Australian meets Russia's sixth seed, and former double champion here, Marat Safin.