By Julian Linden

James Blake will meet Spain's Carlos Moya in Saturday's Sydney International final after the American's semi-final opponent Juergen Melzer pulled out before their match with a stomach virus.

Defending champion Blake was given a free-ride into the title match when Melzer was forced to forfeit, while former world number one Moya rolled back the years to beat Richard Gasquet 6-3 4-6 6-2 and reach his third Sydney final in 11 years.

Blake said he had been unaware of Melzer's illness until he arrived at Sydney's Olympic tennis centre ready to play, but wasn't complaining with the temperature hovering around 40 degrees Celsius.

"It's a little bittersweet," the American said.

"It's great to be back in the final... to start a year off this way and get to compete for a title.

"I'm excited for that but I'm bummed (disappointed) for Juergen. He's obviously played some great tennis this week."

Melzer said the virus had left him feeling so ill and weak that he was considering pulling out of next week's Australian Open.

"At the moment there's no way I could play," he said. "I just hope that somebody from upstairs looks down on me and gets me ready for Monday or Tuesday."

Melzer, who is drawn to play big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic in the first round of the Australian Open, said he had been feeling fine after his straight sets win over Tomas Berdych on Thursday but suddenly felt ill after eating sushi for dinner that evening.

CLOSE SHAVES

"I've been throwing up in the morning and really feeling bad," he said.

"I hope it's just from the sushi and it's not some really bad virus."

Moya was beaten by Tim Henman in the 1997 final when it was staged at White City in Sydney's eastern suburbs and then by Lleyton Hewitt in 2004 when he twisted his ankle and had to retire then withdraw from the Australian Open.

The former French Open champion is hoping for better luck this time after surviving three close shaves to reach the semis then a determined fightback from Gasquet to make the final.

Moya saved a match point in his first-round win over Australian wildcard Luke Bourgeois, five match points in his second-round victory over fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco then came from 5-3 down in the third set to beat Marcos Bhagdatis of Cyprus in the quarter-finals.

"What can I say? I beat some very good players and now I'm just one step away from the title," Moya said.

"When I got here the first day, I didn't expect at all to be in the final, not even win a couple of matches.

"These are the things that keep me motivated and that's why I want to keep going on."

Moya has won five of his previous eight encounters with Moya but Saturday's final has taken on added importance with the pair also scheduled to meet each other in the first round of next week's Australian Open.

"It's a weird situation for both of us, I guess. It's never happened to me before, so I don't know how we're going to deal with it," Moya said.

"I guess tomorrow we'll forget about our first round match next week, we'll just play for the title here and try to do our best."