Hard man Hewitt faces Candyfloss Kid

The first prize of £275,000 will be disputed at the Paris Masters final this afternoon by the world's top two in-form players, Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin. Hewitt cemented his position at No 1 by dousing the fiery challenge of the highly impressive, fast-rising and exotically monikered Thai, Paradorn Srichaphan, 6-3 3-6 6-3, while Safin, back to the brilliance of two years ago, saw off the dogged challenge of Carlos Moya 7-5 7-6.

It should be some final today. Wimbledon champion and winner of the Masters Series tournament at Indian Wells, Hewitt has never previously gone this far at the Paris indoor event. Safin won here two years ago, a victory which pushed him to the top of the rankings then. Yesterday's dismissal of Moya was a further boost for burgeoning confidence.

Srichaphan, who started the year at 126 in the world, will move into the top 20 when the latest rankings are published tomorrow. It has been an astonishing surge and it came breathtakingly close to going even further. Hammering classic one-handed backhand winners and serving veritable bombs, the Thai found himself at 3-3 in the deciding set with three break points. Had he converted one more point, he admitted later, he would have reached for the red shirt he habitually dons on the brink of victory. "But I only put it on when I am sure I am going to finish it," he said. "I don't want to do that and then not win."

The lucky red shirt stayed in Srichaphan's bag. Hewitt, constructed of that special Australian crumble-proof material, stood his ground and fought his way clear of danger. "After that I told myself that was the turning point." So it proved, and the world champion had proved himself again, though he added: "I still feel I can hit the ball better."

It was exactly two years ago that Safin last played to this level, crushing Pete Sampras to win the US Open and introducing himself as the next big name in the game. But his career then came to a full stop as he spent too much time impersonating the candyfloss kid, throwing tantrums and breaking rackets when things failed to go his way. However, he remains a charming and talented 22-year-old and even not having won a tournament this year does not faze him. There is still this event, the Masters Cup in Shanghai next week and then the Davis Cup final between Russia and France in this same arena for him to strut his stuff.

Yesterday Safin was opposed by a Spaniard who has spent the past week treating adversity as a mate. Moya saved six match points on his way to beating France's top man, Sebastien Grosjean, and then showed Andre Agassi the door in straight sets. As one Paris paper had it, Moya has been "surfing the clouds."

Having lost his first match at this event for five straight years, Moya has been having an overdue ball in Paris, though his funereal choice of clothing would never have told you so. A black headband was matched by black shorts, socks and shoes, with a dark grey shirt to lighten the gloom. There was, though, nothing funereal about his speed around court, despite a strapped left thigh.

As someone who could also brag about being a former world No 1, albeit for just one week in April 1999, Moya was looking for his fifth title of the year. But he did not, in truth, get close to beating Safin, who struck 13 aces and never offered his opponent even the sniff of a break point. Safin, in contrast, always looked likely to break through, being held at bay by Moya's mix of bravery and doggedness.

The Spaniard saved one break point at 3-4 in the opening set, two sets points at 4-5 and two more at 5-6. A repeat of the Grosjean miracle was clearly what some in the audience saw coming but on his fifth set point, set up by a wonderful angled backhand volley, Safin closed it out with a perfect stop volley.

Even three aces in one game of the second set failed to demolish Moya's resolve, and he saved a match point at 5-6. When it went to a tie-break, however, Safin made no mistake when a second one came his way.