The resurgent "Ball" combined a fierce baseline game and patience to outlast close friend 22nd-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 7-5 in a heart-pounding match which was clocked at two hours and 42 minutes.

It was a tremendous recovery for someone who had made first-round exits in four straight tournaments. In his passage to the final four, Paradorn upended four seeds, including Robby Ginepri, Juan Carlos Ferrero and David Nalbandian, ranked 20th, 16th and fourth in the world.

Meditation, which he has been practising since his brief ordination at the end of last year, is the key to his breakthrough this week. The Thai ace, who was criticised for rushing his game on court, has become dead calm and even pauses with eyes closed on court right after his matches.

His brilliant performance as well as his tight outfit, which is reminiscent of Spiderman except in blue, gave Thais a well-needed break from the political turmoil. And when he struts his stuff against the world's best player on Sunday morning, the whole nation will be glued to the tube.

In their head-to-head record, the two-time champion dominates 2-0. The last time they met was in the 2004 Thailand Open semi-final, when Paradorn took Federer to three sets before losing 5-7 6-2 3-6.

The safe bet is on the on-form Swiss tennis star, but the Thai Tiger did not earn a semi-final spot for nothing. If Buddhist meditation propelled him to four wins over ranking players, why shouldn't it help him just once more?

Lerpong Amsa-ngiam

The Nation