General / Editor / 15 April 2007 /

World number 156 Mariano Zabaleta upset second seed James Blake to clinch a final berth against Ivo Karlovic at the US Clay Court Championships.

The Argentinian qualifier overcame the world number nine 7-5 7-6 (9-7) in a straightforward straight sets semi-final win.
Blake failed to convert three set points in the tie-break before losing the match on a double fault.

"I took my eye off of it and you can't do that. I was already thinking about the next shot," he said afterwards.
Zabaleta will have been pleased to have conserved some energy for the final after a tough passage through the tournament, for which he had to win two matches just to take part in the main draw.

He beat defending champion Mardy Fish and last year's runner-up Jurgen Melzer on his way to the semi-final.
Karlovic cruised to the final after he beat Albert Montanes 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 in Houston.
The 6ft 10in Croat, who has been broken only once this week, closed out the match with four straight aces, two of them clocked at 137mph (220 kph), to reach his second final this year.

Zabaleta is a warm, 1.93 favourite in Betfair's Match Odds market for the final with Karlovic at 2.04 to claim the title.
Betfair's Set Betting market has the Croat at 3.6 to take the match in straight sets and 4.2 by a margin of 2-1.
A straight sets victory for Zabaleta is the favourite outcome in the market at 3.1, with the Argentinian also at 4.2 to win 2-1.

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