Baghdatis (left) capitalised on Malisse's erratic hitting

Marcos Baghdatis and David Nalbandian have both reached their first tournament final in the United States at the Washington Classic tournament.

Eighth seed Baghdatis produced a classy performance to see off Xavier Malisse 6-2 7-6 in their semi-final before Nalbandian beat Marin Cilic 6-2 6-2.

"I played the perfect game to beat Xavier. I played the right shot at the right time," said Baghdatis.

The Cypriot had a 3-1 lead over the Argentine in their previous meetings.

In humid conditions, Baghdatis struggled with his serve, landing only 43% of his first serves, but took advantage of an error-strewn first set display by his opponent, only facing one break point and coming up with five aces.

606: DEBATE Good luck Marcos the great entertainer of the ATP NEIL ROBERTSON 2010 WC AND WORLD NUMBER 2

The Belgian upped his game in the second set, breaking his opponent to take the set to a tie-break.

Baghdatis sprinted into a 6-1 tlead before being pegged back, only to take it 7-4 when Malisse put a backhand into the net.

In the second semi-final, Croatian Cilic broke Nalbandian's serve in the opening game before losing his range and he had lost the first set while many fans were still finding their seats.

Nalbandian, who reached the 2002 Wimbledon final but has missed much of this year with a hamstring injury, wasted little time as he converted five of eight break points to beat Cilic for the second time in two meetings.

"When I'm playing this good, it's tough for everybody. It doesn't matter who is on the other side," said Nalbandian after a performance which saw him recover from his early break of serve to win nine out of the next 10 games.

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