Johannesburg, South Africa - Feliciano Lopez dumped the number one seed, Gael Monfils, out of the SA Open in an epic three set thriller. With this victory the third seeded Lopez made sure that it won’t be an all French final for a second year in a row here at Montecasino. Lopez’s opponent in today’s final – where he is looking for his first singles title since 2004 – is the number eight seed Stephane Robert. The Frenchman got the better of the second seed David Ferrer of Spain with his 7-5, 6-4 victory. Lopez won the highly contested semifinal 3-6, 6-1 and 7-6 (7/1) in just more than an hour and 30 minutes. Even though Monfils injured his knee in the second set it was still a highly entertaining and tightly contested match. Lopez was made to work hard for his victory. He is now keen to win a second singles title.

“It’s very special to reach a final and even more so seeing that the last time was in 2008,” said the Spaniard.

In the end though the effect of Monfils’s injury was devastating to his ambitions to lift the trophy like his countryman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, did last year.

“I knew very soon that I was in trouble. My physio forgot to tape my knee before the match and even though I tried to play without it, it was really hard to move,” said Monfils.

For a second year in a row it was a somewhat unheralded Frenchman that stopped Ferrer in his tracks. Last year it was Jeremy Chardy.

Even though the second seed from Spain was extremely disappointed, he was gracious in defeat.

“He played better than me. He served better, his play for the baseline was better and the same with his backhand,” said an utterly distraught Ferrer.

On the other side of the coin it was an ecstatic Robert, who was clearly on a high after his somewhat unexpected victory.

“I’m very happy to play in my first final. I play every match to win and this is a big success for me,” said Robert.

“I played a very good match. I’m starting to feel the ball good in the altitude after playing a few matches this week. I served good and my backhand down the line really bothered him.”

According to Robert his “weapon” is the fact that he is still a somewhat unknown factor to the players.

“It’s true that when you play someone you don’t know that you can be surprised. He is obviously in good shape after four victories. He will try his best, but so will I and the best player will lift the trophy,” said Lopez.

While Robert has never played in a final before, it will be Lopez’s fifth appearance in an ATP-final. He has only one career singles title which he won in 2004 in Vienna on an indoor hardcourt. His last final was in 2008 in Dubai also on a hardcourt but outdoor.

Karol Beck (Slovakia) and Harel Levy (Israel) won the second doubles semifinal against Steve Darcis and Xavier Malisse of Belgium. The score was 7-5, 4-6 and 10/7.

They will meet Rohan Bopanna (India) and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (Pakistan) in today’s final.