Bohdan Ulihrach continued his domination of Magnus Norman with a three-set win over the defending champion in the Swedish Open semi-finals.

Ulihrach beat Norman in a Davis Cup match at Helsingborg in the spring and now has a 3-0 record against the Swede.

The fifth-seeded Czech won 6-2 4-6 6-1 to clinch a final berth against unseeded Italian Andrea Gaudenzi.

Gaudenzi continued his recent run of good form with a straight sets win over Younes El Aynaoui, of Morocco.

Gaudenzi, who claimed the second ATP title of his career at St Poelten, Austria, last month, beat El Aynaoui 6-2 7-6 (7-1) after saving eight set points in the second set.

The 27-year-old Italian clay court specialist got off to a blistering start, breaking El Aynaoui's serve twice in the opening set with thundering cross-court forehands.

Gaudenzi seemed to be heading for an easy win when El Aynaoui lost his serve to go 3-2 down in the second set.

Failed to keep his cool

But the Moroccan, a quarter-finalist at the Australian Open last year, lifted his game and clawed his way back into the match as Gaudenzi's shots started misfiring.

El Aynaoui had two set points when Gaudenzi was serving at 5-4 down and six more when the Italian served to stay in the set two games later.

But El Aynaoui failed to keep his cool, spraying shots long, wide or into the net.

In the tiebreak Gaudenzi, a former junior world champion who has finally found his form after recovering from a painful shoulder injury, seized back the initiative to clinch the match.