Fifth-seeded Danai stopped the surprise run of French qualifier Julien Jeanpierre with a 6-4 6-4 win to make his fourth final this year. He previously made it into finals in India in April, Uzbekistan in May and South Korea in May.

In the doubles semi-finals, second seeds Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana ousted American Kevin Kim and South Korean Kim Sun-yung 6-4 6-3, while Danai and Lee Hyung-taik went down to top seeds Alexander Peya of Austria and Bjorn Phau of Germany 6-1 7-6 (7-4).

"It was a tough match as Jeanpierre hit top-spins which made it difficult for me. I just had to get the ball back but the key was I played better on crucial points,'' said Danai, who has two titles under his belt after winning in India and Uzbekistan this year.

Danai will play American second-seed Paul Goldstein, who breezed past Taiwan's Lu Yen-hsun 6-4 6-1, in the final. The Thai beat the American at this same venue in the final of a different tournament in May, 2005.

"It won't be easy because every time I played him it was always tough. He is very consistent and doesn't give free points. I have to be really focussed in the final or I might give him the match,'' said Danai.

Sonchat and Sanchai have won three trophies together this year and could add one more to their collection if they could clear the final hurdle against Peya and Phau.

"We lost to them before and we hope we could return the favour tomorrow,'' said Sanchai.

Meanwhile in Pune, India, Nungnadda Wannasuk celebrated her 17th birthday with a second ITF title when she won the $10,000 NECC ITF Women's Tennis Tournament yesterday.

The 604th ranked Nugnadda, who won her first trophy in Nigeria in February, beat Kazakhstan's Amina Rakhim 3-6 6-3 6-2, which should propel her into the top 500 in two weeks.

"I missed too much in the first set but I came back strong in the second and third sets. I'm so happy to win this tournament on my birthday,'' said the teenager, who wished she could play more tournaments this year but cannot due to age restrictions.

In Manila, Thailand's Varanya Vijuksanaboon reached her first ITF final after she beat Noppawan Lertcheewakarn 6-3 6-2 in the semi-finals of the $10,000 Holcim ITF Women's Circuit 1 tournament yesterday.

In the doubles final, Thassha Vitayaviroj and Taiwan's Shao-Yuan Kao beat South Korean Kim Jung-eun and Lim Sae-mi 6-2 7-5 for the title.