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Today?s semifinals were highlighted by the feisty Guillermo Cañas, as the unseeded Argentine battled heroically to upset the third seed, Tommy Haas in an enthralling duel. Twelfth-seeded Andy Roddick, the powerful American teenager, breezed past Jiri Novak and will take on Cañas tomorrow in a battle of first-time Masters Series finalists. Below we focus on the semifinal action in singles as well as doubles, where a local boy wobbled but finally got to play the hero.

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Guillermo Cañas def. Tommy Haas (3), 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5)
Semifinal
Previous head-to-head: Haas leads 1-0

Guillermo Cañas and Tommy Haas put on a gem of a match in front of an appreciative throng at the stadium. In the end, the man known in Argentina as ?Willy? held his nerve in the decisive moments to reach the most important final of his career.

Cañas looked to be the better player in the opening set, dominating the baseline rallies with his superior consistency and powerful forehands. Cañas got the only break he needed at 1-1: he took a 15-30 lead on a strong forehand, and clinched the break when Haas dumped a sliced backhand into the net at 15-40. The Argentine was never worried on his serve, showing no signs of the right wrist tendonitis that has troubled him of late, and took the 6-3 lead on his first set point thanks an overhit Haas overhead from the baseline.

Haas needed to try something different, because Plan A was not working and Cañas was outplaying him from the baseline. Intelligently, at 1-0 of the second set the German played a few looping moonballs, and it worked: he drew a short ball from Cañas and smacked a forehand winner. This point seemed to swing the match in Haas?s favour. He went on to earn his first break point of the match, and it went Haas?s way when Cañas drove an overhead into the net. A furious Cañas, feeling the control he had over t he match slipping away, smashed his racquet angrily to the court. Who needs Safin? The break seemed to invigorate Haas, who now began to find the range with his powerful baseline drives. Tommy held serve easily the rest of the way to take the set 6-3 -- this was the first set Cañas had lost this week -- and level the match.

The third set was captivating. The atmosphere was assured by a handful of flag-waving Argentines in the standing area at the corner of the stadium, who rallied their man with chants of ?Olé olé olé olé, Guille! Guille!? Cañas told the press after the match that one of the members of his support group was Diego Maradona?s brother.

Haas also had a lot of support, notably from the ?NetHeads?, a roving band of tennis fanatics who have been whooping it up here all week. These exuberant folks wear nets over their caps and always pick a player to chant and cheer for. They were firmly behind Haas today, and let loose with unorthodox chants such as ?Release the missile!?, ?Who let the Haas out? Oo! Oo!? and, just simply, ?Huge!? Just for the heck of it, the NetHeads would sometimes chant the score: ?Fif-teen thir-ty! (clap!, clap!, clap ! clap! clap!)!? Go figure.

The first blow in the third set was struck by Haas, who broke Cañas in the opening game, setting up the break chance with one of his trademark one-handed backhand winners, and converting by sneaking to the net and nailing the overhead. But Cañas was not done yet. The Argentine bulldog earned two break points at 3-2, but failed with a backhand passing attempt on his first try and committed a backhand error on the second.

With Haas holding a 4-3, 40-0 lead, he appeared to be closing in on the win. But Cañas is nothing if not a fighter. He brought it back to 40-30, and forced deuce with a whipping forehand pass on the run that brought a great cheer from the crowd. At deuce, Haas collapsed, and gave away two points by flubbing an easy forehand volley, then dumping a swinging forehand volley into the net. After the match, Cañas acknowledged the significance of this game. ?At 4-3, 40-0, in this moment I didn?t think I wou ld win the match. But I try to fight him? I think he controlled the match and then he makes two easy mistakes.?

We were all even now at 4-4, and the players held serve until the decisive tie-break. As you can see, Cañas made some spectacular shots, and Haas gave away too much, especially a double fault and that missed volley at 5-4....

• GC serving: Strong serve followed by an inside-out forehand winner. 1-0 Cañas
• TH: Double fault! 2-0 Cañas
• TH: 205 km/h ace. 2-1 Cañas
• GC: A great point: Haas at the net is lobbed by Cañas, Haas sprints back and retrieves it. Cañas had followed his lob at the net and volleys, then Haas passes him with that down-the-line backhand. The crowd roars, and it?s 2-2
• GC: After a 10-shot rally, Haas explodes with a forehand too hot for Cañas to handle. 3-2, Haas has his first lead
• TH: Haas serve-volleys, and Cañas responds with a remarkable touch stabbing backhand lob winner. More throaty cheers from the crowd. 3-3
• TH: Haas goes to the net again, and his backhand volley looks like it is good enough, but the hustling Cañas whips a sprinting forehand volley up the line! More roars from the crowd. 4-3 Cañas
• GC: Haas blasts a forehand, and Cañas can?t pull off the miracle running shot this time. 4-4
• GC: Cañas follows up a strong serve with a forehand winner on the sideline. 5-4 Cañas
• TH: Serving-volleying, Haas dumps an easy backhand volley into the net. ?That was a shot I needed to make,? admitted Haas after the match. 6-4 Cañas, match point #1
• TH: Haas approaches behind his forehand and makes the volley this time. 6-5 Cañas, match point #2
• GC: Second serve? Haas goes for a forehand return that lands just wide. Cañas wins! Overjoyed and relieved, Guillermo falls to his back and raises his arms in joy, before remembering his manners: he quickly gets to his feet and jogs to shake hands with Haas. Willy and Tommy have a nice hug. Make the final: 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5)

While frustrated with the narrow defeat, Haas was gracious in his post-match comments. ?I played some great tennis I thought,? said the German, ?especially in the second and third sets. I had a few chances here or there to probably win the match for me, but he just came up with some great shots at the right time, and you have to give him credit for that.? Despite the loss, Haas feels positive about his play this week and thinks it is a sign of bigger and better things to come. ?Overall I?m extremely h appy,? summarized Haas about his week. ?If I can continue like this, and if my shoulder holds up, I think I would be very dangerous at the U.S. Open.?

No question, Guillermo Cañas is having the week of his life. After Roger Federer, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin, Haas is the fourth top ten player that the determined native of Buenos Aires has defeated this week. ?I try today to enjoy this,? beamed Willy. ?Tomorrow morning I start to think about what I need to do to win the final.?

Cañas said that the tendonitis in his right wrist was not a problem today, and feels that with the help of the trainers it should not be an issue for tomorrow?s final. It will be the biggest match of the unseeded Argentine?s career, and Cañas intends to enjoy every minute of it. ?I love to be on the court,? says Battling Willy with conviction. ?I love to play. I love to fight.?

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Andy Roddick (12) def. Jiri Novak (14), 6-4, 6-3
Semifinal
Previous head-to-head: first meeting

The second semi, played this evening, was considerably less eventful. Young Andy Roddick took care of the Czech smoothie Jiri Novak to reach, like Cañas, the most important final of his career so far. Although the difference was just one break in each set, both were playing at a very quick pace and the match took just 53 minutes.

The NetHeads were firmly in Roddick?s corner, but the teenaged American (he turns 20 later this month) didn?t really need their help tonight. Clad in a collarless red shirt and white visor, Roddick raced to a 2-0 lead by breaking Novak?s serve on the strength of some big forehands. Novak then had his best moment of the match, using his excellent returns to break back at love. ?That was expected,? said Roddick of his opponent?s strong returning. ?I think he was the best returner here, statistically.? I t was only the second time in five matches this week that Andy had lost his serve.

They stayed on serve until the Czech served at 4-5. Roddick made one of the best plays of the night at 0-30, scrambling far to his right to retrieve Novak?s approach shot and delivering a down-the-line pass. Novak was able to get his racquet on it, but the ball popped straight up and was easy pickings for Andy?s putaway forehand. At 0-40, triple set point, Novak concluded a rally with a forehand error, and Roddick had the 6-4 lead.

The second set turned on the fourth game, a terrible service game by Novak. Jiri made four unforced errors to lose his serve at 15. That was all that Roddick needed, since he was serving phenomenally (71 percent first serve efficiency) and Novak could not summon up his returning prowess of the first set. The crowd rallied behind Novak to extend the match, but in vain. Jiri valiantly tried to break through Roddick?s artillery in the final game, staving off two match points and forcing a deuce. That is as far as he got. Roddick concluded with an ace and a forehand winner to seal the win and a berth in his first Masters Series final.

Any tennis fan knows that Roddick has a fearsome serve and potent forehand, but we were impressed tonight by his ability to construct points with safer topspin forehands and sliced backhands. After the match, Roddick admitted that developing this strategy has been a priority for him. ?I?m really waiting for my shot before giving it a ride.?

So the iron-willed Cañas awaits the heir apparent of American tennis in what shapes up as a promising final. Roddick is as impressed as everyone else by the Argentine?s play. ?He doesn?t have a weakness,? offered Andy. ?He?s played the best tennis of anyone this week, by far. So I?m going to have to play my best match of the week in order to win.?

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Doubles! Doubles!

The 24-year-old Bryan twins from California, righty Bob and lefty Mike, earned the first finalist berth up for grabs in the doubles tournament with a hard-won 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 win over David Prinosil & David Rikl. The Bryans had to save two match points in the second set thanks to what the only intrepid reporter following the action at this point called a ?total choke? by Team David.

We must reluctantly award the goat horns to Prinosil, whose serve was broken in the third set on a double fault at 2-3, 30-40. The Davids had two break point when Mike Bryan served for the match, but poor Prinosil failed to return a kicking second serve on the first chance, and drove a forehand into the net on the second. Our intrepid colleague, who is working on a story about the Bryans, told us that Mike Bryan alone blasted 16 aces today.

The sixth-seeded Bryans will lock horns with top seeds Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor in tomorrow?s final. Knowles/Nestor edged Aussies Joshua Eagle and Sandon Stolle, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 7-6 (7-4) tonight in front of a large crowd that stayed around after the singles to support local boy Nestor. The Daniel Nestor health watch has been one of the ongoing stories of the week, as he was hospitalized for severe dehydration after his three set singles loss to Kristian Pless on Monday. But Daniel was able to rec over in time to come back and reach the final weekend in doubles. Whether Nestor has struggling physically tonight or not his hard to say -- his countenance looks rather deathly at the best of times -- but his play was spotty and the solid Knowles did his best to pull the team through.

It looked like the hometown hero would become hometown goat when Nestor lost his serve limply to allow the Australian par to serve for the match at 5-4. But Nestor pulled himself back together with a strong return game to break Eagle. Daniel continued his resurgence in the tie-break, accounting for the key mini-break at 1-0 with a backhand drive up the doubles alley, and winning match point on a floating backhand that landed on the baseline after Stolle unwisely decided not to play it.

With the media-friendly Roddick in the singles final and a Torontonian in the doubles final, the tournament organizers can have few complaints about the fare for tomorrow?s final day.