Mathieu faces Davydenko test

Paul-Henri Mathieu reached his first ATP Tour final of the season with victory over Pablo Cuevas at the German Open in Hamburg.

Frenchman and Russian to clash in German Open final

Paul-Henri Mathieu reached his first ATP Tour final of the season with victory over Pablo Cuevas at the German Open. The Frenchman fought back from a set and a break down to beat the Uruguayan qualifier 4-6 6-3 7-5 in Hamburg. Cuevas, ranked 107 in the world, pounded the world number 39 with his lethal top-spin backhand to take the first set in 40 minutes after breaking early on to lead 4-2. The 23-year-old, who won the 2008 French Open men's doubles title, got another break in the first game of the second. But Mathieu was in no mood to surrender and hit back to win the next four consecutive games and level the match. The 27-year-old raced to a 5-1 lead in the final set with a double break after heavy rain had suspended play for around 40 minutes as the retractable roof started to leak. Cuevas fought back to level the set at 5-5 before the Frenchman broke again and served out the match after almost three hours on court. The 13th seed will play Nikolay Davydenko for the title after the Russian beat Spaniard David Ferrer 7-5 7-6 (7-2) in the other semi-final. The Russian second seed fought back from 5-2 down in the opening set by reeling off five straight games and then edged a close second set to see off the sixth seed.