Haas ends Hewitt's streak to reach final

Local favourite Tommy Haas ended U.S. Open champion Lleyton Hewitt's record streak with a hard-fought 3-6 6-4 7-5 win on Saturday to reach the Stuttgart Masters Series tournament final.

Third seed Hewitt, who had racked up 17 straight victories -- more than any other player this year -- would have taken the lead in the ATP Champions Race from Gustavo Kuerten if he had won the event.

But Haas, on a high after winning his third title of the year in Vienna last Sunday, had other ideas.

"I won a couple of matches like this one over the past few days and that helped," said Haas, who was cheered on by an enthusiast crowd packing the Schleyer Halle.

"Having fans like this behind you makes things a lot easier."

The 15th-seeded German's final opponent will be qualifier Max Mirnyi of Belarus, who extended his amazing run by outplaying Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the fifth seed, 7-6 6-3.

Australia's Hewitt remains in contention to end the year at number one and has already moved ahead of Andre Agassi into second place in the Champions Race.

Both Kuerten and Agassi made early exits in Stuttgart, the eighth and penultimate Masters Series tournament and the first indoors.

Haas and Hewitt had traded early breaks when the Australian captured the German's serve again in the eighth game before clinching the set, sealing it when his opponent sent a backhand long on set point.

Hewitt dropped serve at the worst possible moment in the second set with a double fault on set-point.

Close Affair
The decisive set was a close affair with no break until the final game, in which the combative Hewitt survived two match- points before hitting a backhand long on the third to bow out after two hours and 17 minutes.

Hewitt said he had not been surprised by the German's spirited performance.

"I knew going into the match that he was capable of doing that," he said. "He really played extremely well."

Kafelnikov had earlier become Mirnyi's latest high profile victim and will not land his first Masters Series title in the southern German city, where he was a finalist in 1998.

The 24-year-old Mirnyi, who had knocked out Kuerten, Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic and former world number one Pete Sampras on his way to the last four, scored yet another impressive win to reach his first singles final at a major tournament.

No Complaints
Kafelnikov fought from a break down in each set but never really found the answer to his opponent's powerful play.

"I have no complaints," the Russian said. "I gave it 100 percent. Unfortunately, it was not enough."

Mirnyi, who had saved match-points in three encounters earlier in the tournament, had no scares this time, sealing victory with a merciless smash after just 82 minutes.

Each player dropped serve once in a tight first set that went to a tie-break, Mirnyi taking it 7-3 when Kafelnikov sent a backhand crosscourt wide on set point.

Kafelnikov trailed 3-1 when he broke back in the second set, but he lost serve again immediately and Mirnyi cruised to victory.

"I was able to raise the level of my game from the tiebreaker on and I managed to keep it up until the very last point," a proud Mirnyi said.

"I never had any doubts about myself. I like my tennis and I enjoy training. I knew it would pay off eventually. It was just a matter of time."