PARIS, 7 November 2004 — Russian sixth seed Marat Safin overcame an injury scare to beat Argentina’s 13th seed Guillermo Canas 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) yesterday to move just one match away from winning his third Paris Masters title.

The 24-year-old Russian, the champion in 2000 and 2002, wrapped up his semi-final in 1hr 35min and will now face the Czech Republic’s Radek Stepanek who won the battle of the qualifiers beating Max Mirnyi of Belarus 3-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4 in 2hr 12min to reach his first ever final.

As well as chasing his third victory here — a feat only matched by Boris Becker — Safin will also be hunting his third title of the season after winning in Beijing and the Madrid Masters.

But today’s showdown will be a new challenge for Safin as Stepanek is an old fashioned serve-and-volleyer. Canas, who has fought his way to No, 14 in the world after an injury-ravaged 2003 sent his ranking crashing to 274, proved a brave opponent but Safin said his positive approach in the tie-break paid off.

It will be Safin’s fifth final of a year but his title push almost suffered a premature end in the second game of the opening set when he needed treatment on a right ankle injury caused when he crashed to the ground chasing a Canas return. Mirnyi, the conqueror of top seed Andy Roddick, carved out the only break in the first set in the second game but Stepanek dominated the second set tie-break.

Stepanek then grabbed the crucial breakthrough in the third game of the final set to lead 2-1 and then took the tie with another in a long line of crisp volleys.

Venus, Capriati End Season With Defeats

In New York, Venus Williams and Jennifer Capriati’s hopes of qualifying for next week’s lucrative season finale were crushed by quarterfinal defeats at the Advanta Championships in Philadelphia on Friday.

Sixth seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia pounded American Capriati 6-0, 6-1 to keep alive her chances of securing one of the two remaining places in the eight-player field for the $3 million WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles which begin tomorrow.

Defending champion Amelie Mauresmo of France helped Zvonareva’s cause by toppling Williams 7-5, 5-7, 6-1. Venus holds a slight lead over Zvonareva in the points race but the two players trail Serena Williams, who is not competing in Philadelphia.

In other quarterfinal action, seventh seed Nadia Petrova of Russia upset second-seeded compatriot and French Open champion Anastasia Myskina 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to stay on course for her first career title.

Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova also reached the last four after rallying to beat Australian Alicia Molik 3-6, 6-1 6-3.

Mauresmo will face third-seeded Sharapova in the semis while Zvonareva takes on Petrova.