Henman stunned by Massu

Henman failed to build on winning the first set

Chile's Nicholas Massu stunned tournament favourite Tim Henman 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the AAPT Championship semi-finals in Adelaide.

He will meet Tommy Haas in the final after the German topped Australian veteran Jason Stoltenberg 7-6 (7-3) 6-4.

Second seed Henman was looking to follow up a win at Brighton in his final ATP tournament of 2000 and build towards the forthcoming Australian Open - but Massau proved too strong for him.

"It's one of the best days of my life, the first time I've beaten a top 10 guy," the 21-year old Chilean said.

I'm pretty frustrated right now

  Tim Henman

Massu, who carried Chile's flag at the Sydney Olympics, was down one set against Henman after struggling to find form with his serve and groundstrokes for the first few games.

But he fought back to wrestle the second set from Henman and stepped up the pace to take command in the third.

"I think you have to give him credit," said a disappointed Henman.

"He raised his game from the beginning and played a lot of good points at the end.

"From my point of view, I'm pretty frustrated right now because I wanted to win this tournament and maintain the winning race from Brighton.

"But I think in the big picture I'll realise in a couple of days, when I'm practising in Melbourne, that I'm in good shape.

"I feel like I'm hitting the ball well and I've given myself every opportunity to do well in the Australian Open," he said.

Massu had never previously beaten a top ten player

Haas and Stoltenberg looked set for a long battle in the heat at Memorial Drive after going to a tiebreak in the first set and struggling to dent each other's service games in the second.

But Stoltenberg double-faulted twice in the critical ninth game, giving the Olympic silver medalist the chance to close in.

"I'm playing pretty good tennis and I'm happy to be in the final," Haas said.

The German, who knocked out world number seven Lleyton Hewitt on his way to the final, has won only one ATP title in nine finals appearances since 1996, but he was not bothered by such a run of runners-up positions.

"I'm just going to see what happens tomorrow, try my best and if it's good enough to win, I'm happy," he said.