Third-seeded Jarkko Nieminen beat France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 6-4 Saturday to advance to the Australian men's hardcourt championships final against Michael Llodra.
Llodra ended the lengthy run of 32-year-old Australian wild card Joe Sirianni with a 6-3, 7-6 (8) win in the other semifinal at Memorial Drive, which is hosting the tournament for the final time before it heads north to Brisbane next year.
Sirianni was on a 12-match winning streak, including victories in two Challenger tournaments and in wild card events for Adelaide and the Australian Open.
"I don't think I played well today at all and I nearly beat the guy, so I've got to take a positive out of everything, the whole week," Sirianni said.
"I've got two more tournaments coming up, Sydney and the Aussie Open, hopefully I compete and improve my ranking."
Fabrice Santoro, Jonas Bjorkman and Carlos Moya are among ATP players still playing in their mid-30s, giving the Australian journeyman some hope.
"Maybe another three or four years, you've got a few guys on tour who are 36 and doing really well, you never know," Sirianni said. "If I listen to my body and take care of myself I can have another four years probably."
Llodra was complimentary.
"He is running very well and has a very good backhand, so if he continues like that we're going to see more of him on tour," Llodra said.
The Frenchman won the first 12 points of the match against Sirianni.
The second set went with serve through to the tiebreaker. Leading 6-3 in the tiebreaker, Sirianni had three set points to keep the match alive, but a combination of nerves and fatigue allowed Llodra to win seven of the next nine points and the match.
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