Kuerten sets up Rafter repeat

Toppled: Safin was seeded to reach the final

Gustavo Kuerten reached the final of the RCA Championships in Indianapolis after beating Goran Ivanisevic in their rain-delayed semi-final.

French Open champion Kuerten needed three sets to beat the Wimbledon champion, who was the 10th seed at the event.

An upset looked on the cards when the Croatian raced through the first set 6-1 in just 21 minutes.

But the Brazilian top seed recovered to take the next two sets 6-3 6-2.

Ivanisevic forfeited a game after smashing his racket in frustration at missing a break point in the third set.

Kuerten will now play Pat Rafter in the final in a repeat of last weekend's Masters Series final in Cincinnati.

Kuerten won that match and condemned Rafter to his third consecutive final defeat, a sequence which began at Wimbledon last month.

Fifth seed Rafter edged past second seed Marat Safin, prevailing 9-7 in the final set tiebreak after a two-hour duel.

The Australian took the first set 6-3 before Russian Safin forced a decider by taking the second 7-5.

It was the first time that Rafter's serve had been broken in the tournament.

Both men had a match point in the third set tiebreak before Safin missed an easy volley to hand victory to the Queenslander.

The last point summed up the match - it was lucky

Pat Rafter

It is Rafter's fourth consecutive final although he has not won any of the previous three.

But the Australian remains good-naturedly optimistic about his chances of winning his first title since June last year.

"Like I've been telling myself, if I hang in there, it will come around - someone will twist an ankle and I'll win," he joked.