PARIS, June 7: Juan Carlos Ferrero broke out of his semi-final rut at the French Open Friday, winning a battle of tennis’ new generation 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 over second seed Marat Safin to reach the title match.

The 22-year-old talent will take on compatriot Albert Costa, the hardest-working man who never won a major, in the second all-Spanish finale at Roland Garros since 1998 and the third in the past nine editions.

Costa needed to settle his nerves before closing out an emotional 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory over good friend Alex Corretja to take his place in the first Grand Slam finale of his nearly decade-long career.

“It’s a great moment for me, I tell you, great, great. It’s my best moment in tennis for sure,” said the man who put out holder Gustavo Kuerten in the fourth round.

Ferrero was clinical in his dismantling of the game of Safin, whose form can exploded into either brilliance or mediocrity at any moment.

The Russian, who lost the Australian Open final in January to Swede Thomas Enqvist, never threatened Ferrero, who has been stopped at the semi-finals in Paris for the past two years by Kuerten.

The contest ended after little more than two hours of combat with Safin returning wide on Ferrero’s second first match point.

“I couldn’t find my game today,” said the Russian, who trained with Ferrero as a teenager in Valencia where he was sent from Moscow to perfect his game. “I was not good enough, I have to accept that.”

Safin showed 78 unforced errors and had just four break points chances against the Ferrero juggernaut. The Spaniard, who will jump to second behind Safin in the season point race should he win the title on Sunday, had just 44 miscues and converted six of 15 break point chances.

“He gained a lot of experience recently,” said Safin of the Monte Carlo masters winner. “But it is hard to pick the tournament winner. A final is a final and anything can happen.”

Costa took his victory over Corretja, a finalist in 1998 and 2001, in three hours, 10 minutes.

Holding a two-set-to-one lead, Costa faltered in the eighth game of the fourth with a pair of errors to squander two match points as Corretja held.

But Costa eventually steadied on his own serve, saving four break points - including one from a ball on the line from Corretja which Costa called good. Corretja then sent a backhand into the net.

One more error, a backhand wide, from Corretja set up another winning chance for Costa.

This time, the 26-year-old father of twin girls didn’t falter, falling on his back in relief on the clay as his friend sent a return wide down the tramlines.

The pair hugged each other in victory and walked off the court still the best of mates.

“He’s my good friend, we go on holidays together and share a trainer,” said Costa. “It’s wonderful to be in the Roland Garros final.

“It’s incredible, this was a very important match for me. You never know when you play Alex, I had to stay ahead.

“This is the tournament of my life, it’s everything I’ve dreamed of. I was worried Alex would come back. Look at how he saved the match points, that’s experience.”

Corretja said he found it hard to find focus after having to finish off his quarter-final against Romanian Andre Pavel Thursday, two days after it started due to rain.

“If I look at the score today, I feel disappointed,” said the 28- year-old. “But I haven’t won more than two matches in the same tournament for the past eight or ten months, so I’ve got to be satisfied with the way I played. I can’t ask for more.”

The veteran added: “Today it was difficult for me to concentrate on the game, it’s been that way recently. Albert had some difficulty in wrapping up the match because we know each other so well.”

RESULTS:

Men’s singles (semifinals): Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa x11) bt Marat Safin (Rus x2) 6-3, 6-2, 6-4; Albert Costa (Spa x20) bt Alex Corretja (Spa x18) 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3

Women’s doubles (semifinals): Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez (Spa/Arg x2) bt Nicole Arendt and Liezel Huber (USA/Rsa x9) 6-0, 6-4

Quarterfinals: Rika Fujiwara and Ai Sugiyama (Jpn x15) bt Petra Mandula and Patricia Wartusch (Hun/Aut) 6-0, 2-6, 6-4

Mixed doubles (semifinals): Elena Bovina and Mark Knowles (Rus/Bah) bt Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario and Jared Palmer (Spa/USA x1) 6-3, 6-3; Cara Black and Byron Black (Zim x5) bt Katarina Srebotnik and Bob Bryan (Slo/USA) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.—dpa/AFP