By Oliver Grassman

Defending champion James Blake did just enough to beat Sweden’s Robin Soderling 7-5, 7-6 on Saturday to reach the Stockholm Open final.

In Sunday's final, the world No.8 will play Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen, who defeated giant server Joachim Johansson in an epic three-set battle.

Blake, the second seed, broke Soderling in the second-set tiebreak for a 3-2 lead with an exquisite backhand down the line, then held his serve to clinch the match 7-4.

"He made me come out with some of my best tennis to squeeze that match out," the American said of his opponent, who was 5-3 up in the first set but failed to capitalise.

"I knew he had a big serve but I didn't realise his ground strokes were that heavy. All you can do is do your best and stay positive out there - and that's what I did.’’