BANGKOK, Sept 30: 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).

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.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.

Results:

Semi-finals: 1-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) beat 8-Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) 6-3, 6-2; 3-James Blake (US) beat Marat Safin (Russia) 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).—Agencies