Andre Agassi's Rome Masters bid ended when he lost 7-5, 7-6 to Argentine ninth seed Guillermo Coria in the semi-finals on Saturday.
In the final Coria will play another claycourt specialist, Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal, who beat compatriot David Ferrer 4-6, 6-4, 7-5. The match will be a repeat of last month's Monte Carlo Masters final, which Nadal won in four sets.
"It will be very different this time because in Monte Carlo I was playing for the first time in a final after a long time (out)," said Coria, who missed several months of competition late last year due to a shoulder injury.
"This time I think I can win and I'm happy to play against Nadal."
Coria's victory ended Agassi's hopes of reclaiming the title he won in 2002.
It was an erratic performance by the 35-year-old American, whose flashes of brilliance were undone by often wayward groundstrokes.
A break down after the seventh game, Agassi produced a pair of winning service returns to level at 5-5. In the next game, however, a series of long forehands gifted Coria the chance to serve out for the set.
UNFORCED ERRORS
The Argentine tightened his grip on the match when Agassi committed another series of unforced errors to drop serve in the opening game of the second set.
He levelled with a volley winner and a serve return that rocketed down the line to go a break up but another shaky service game sent the set into a tiebreak.
Agassi made four more unforced errors to lose it to love and gift Coria a place in the final.
"I could have been more aggressive for sure, but you're always walking a fine line between being aggressive and taking too many risks," said Agassi as he looked forward to the ATP event in Hamburg next week and this month's French Open.
"Certainly I've made a good few steps forward this week. I've played a lot of matches and that's crucial. Right now, though, that doesn't negate the disappointment."
Twelve months ago Coria was the most dangerous claycourt player in the world as he won titles in Buenos Aires and Monte Carlo on his way to the French Open final.
WINNING STREAK
Now, however, the man to beat is 18-year-old Nadal. Rome will be his sixth final of the year and has won four titles on clay in 2005.
Victory against Ferrer extended his winning streak on the surface to 16 matches.
"I felt a little bit tired today, both mentally and physically, but I fought for every ball," said Nadal, who had also come from a set down to defeat Radek Stepanek in the quarter-finals.
"There was no difference between us. I was just pleased because I finished the match with my best play of the day."
Nadal started in business-like fashion, lashing groundstrokes past his bewildered opponent to break in the opening game.
As the match continued, however, Ferrer began to time his shots better and forced the fifth seed into forehand errors that caused him to drop serve in the eighth and 10th games and lose the first set.
Ferrer twice battled back from a break down in the second, but a long forehand in the ninth game gave Nadal the break he needed to take the contest into a decider.
Nadal rallied to break in the fifth game before Ferrer scrapped for every point and saved two match points to level at 5-5.
His relief, however, was short-lived as a pair of backhand errors, a double fault and a wild smash by Ferrer put Nadal back in front and the teenager served out for victory.
