Paris, France (SportsNetwork.com) - Novak Djokovic and David Ferrer won semifinal matches Saturday and will meet for the title at the Paris Masters.
Djokovic rallied from a set and a break down to earn a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Roger Federer before Ferrer pulled off a surprising 6-3, 7-5 triumph over fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal to reach the final at this event for the second straight year.
Ferrer won this tournament in 2012 for his first Masters crown, beating Jerzy Janowicz.
Nadal's loss, meanwhile, gives Djokovic some hope to claim the season-ending world No. 1. If Djokovic prevails on Sunday in the final, he'll still have the chance to supplant Nadal atop the rankings in next week's season-ending ATP World Tour Finals.
Federer broke Djokovic early in Saturday's match for a 2-1 lead and saved four break points in the 10th game before finally capturing the first set. He then broke serve again to start the second, but Djokovic quickly regrouped and broke right back.
Things changed dramatically from there, as Djokovic won five of the next six games to easily square the match. He then dominated the third set. An early break gave the Serb a 2-1 lead and he dropped only five points on serve in the set.
"I wish I could have kept it up for a bit longer and put him under pressure, but Novak battled well to stay in the match in the second set," said Federer, who still has just one title in 2013.
Djokovic will try for his sixth title of the year and third in as many events. He won the Shanghai Masters and China Open last month and has won 16 straight matches, including Davis Cup, since a loss to Nadal in the U.S. Open final.
Nadal, who took over the No. 1 ranking last month, won't be Djokovic's foe in Sunday's final, though.
Ferrer beat his countrymate for only the fifth time in 25 all-time meetings with Saturday's straight-set win. He broke serve for a 3-1 lead in the first set and another break gave Ferrer a 2-1 edge in the second.
Nadal, though, didn't go away easily. He broke serve for 5-5 in the second, but a long forehand gave Ferrer another break and he went on to close it out in the next game with a forehand winner.
Ferrer will play in his ninth final of 2013 and his third in as many weeks. He lost to Mikhail Youzhny last week in Valencia after falling to Grigor Dimitrov the previous weekend in Stockholm.
Ferrer actually won his first two finals of the year, in Auckland and Buenos Aires, but has since lost title matches in Acapulco, Miami, Portugal and at the French Open before the two most recent setbacks.
Djokovic, who won this title in 2009, owns a 10-5 lifetime mark against Ferrer, including a dominating 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 rout in the Australian Open semifinals back in January.
This week's big winner in Paris will collect $720,000.
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