NEW HAVEN (Connecticut), Aug 25: Third seed James Blake came through another tough test on Friday to set up an all-American final against Mardy Fish in the ATP event in New Haven.

Blake, champion in 2005, ousted fifth seed Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 while wildcard Fish upended Ivo Karlovic 7-6, 6-4 to reach his first final in 16 months.

American Blake reached his second final in a week, but for the second day in succession he had to fight through a tough three-setter.

After trading early breaks, Blake broke Mathieu in the seventh game and held on to take the set, but the Frenchman, at a career-high ranking of 22, hit back to level.

Blake had two match points at 5-3 in the final set but was broken. Mathieu forced a tiebreak but the American rebounded to win it 7-2 and clinch victory.

Fish tamed the Karlovic serve to beat the Croat for the first time in five meetings.

Sixth seed Elena Dementieva was forced to retire from her semi-final with fellow Russian and top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova when trailing 3-0 in the third set.

Dementieva, who lost to Kuznetsova in the final of the US Open in 2004, won the first set but struggled with nausea as the match wore on.

Kuznetsova said Dementieva had told her she felt sick when she quit.

Kuznetsova will play 18-year-old Hungarian qualifier Agnes Szavay, who overcame Greek Eleni Daniiliou 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.

In a match lasting two hours, 17 minutes and which included 14 breaks of serve, Szavay overcame a niggling back problem to reach her first WTA Tour final.

Friday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

Semi-finals: 3-James Blake (US) beat 5-Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6; Mardy Fish (US) beat 11-Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) 7-6 6-4.

Women’s singles:

Semi-finals: Agnes Szavay (Hungary) beat Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) 4-6, 6-1, 7-5; 1-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat 6-Elena Dementieva (Russia) 4-6, 6-3, 3-0 – Dementieva retired.—Reuters