Benoit Paire reaches first ATP final

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BELGRADE, Serbia -- Italy's Andreas Seppi and France's Benoit Paire won semifinal matches Saturday and will play for the Serbia Open title.

Seppi, seeded second, rallied past fourth-seeded David Nalbandian 2-6, 6-2, 7-5. Paire upset top-seeded Pablo Andujar of Spain 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to reach his first final on the ATP Tour.

Nalbandian easily won the opening set, but Seppi regrouped in the second set and broke at 5-4 in the third to serve out the match. Nalbandian committed seven double-faults.

Andujar broke early in the first set, but Paire responded by breaking twice for a 5-3 lead and serving out the set. Paire finished with seven aces.

Paire previously eliminated sixth-seeded Fabio Fognini, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and third-seeded Jarkko Nieminen.

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

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