Gael Monfils, the 15th seed, kept alive French hopes of a BNP Paribas Masters titlist, after defeating 13th seed Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in two hours and 42 minutes on Saturday.

Monfils, who will meet third seed Novak Djokovic in Sunday's final, is looking to join Guy Forget (1991), Sebastien Grosjean (2001) and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (2008) as a French winner at the Palais Omnisports, venue of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament at Bercy in south-east Paris.

If Monfils wins the BNP Paribas Masters title he would tie No. 9-ranked Swede Robin Soderling with 3,010 South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings points, but would lose a tie-break and finish No. 10 in the year-end rankings because Soderling would have won more points at Grand Slam and ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments.

"I don't feel tired anymore," said Monfils.  "I know tomorrow I'll give my life on the court.  I've been playing more than two hours today and the day before.  It's no longer a physical issue.  It's mental now.  I want to win.  I'm not listening to my body anymore.  I'll give it all."

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Stepanek, the 2004 finalist (l. to Safin), swept into a 2-0 lead but Monfils bounced back, dropping four points to win four games in a row, courtesy of service breaks in the third and fifth games.  The 23 year old maintained the advantage and clinched the first set in 41 minutes.

When Stepanek hit a double fault on Monfils' second break point opportunity in the third game of the second set, anticipation heightened amongst French fans.  However, Stepanek broke back immediately for 2-2.  Monfils, responded in turn, breaking Stepanek's serve in the seventh game and at 5-3 came within three points of booking a place in his third ATP World Tour Final of the year.

But Stepanek won four games in a row to win the 56-minute second set. The 30-year-old Monte-Carlo resident saved two of four break points, won 57 per cent of service points and hit three aces.

Monfils and Stepanek exchanged service breaks in the third and fourth games of the deciding set, which looked like it was going to be decided by a tie-break until the ninth game.  At 4-5, Stepanek recovered from 15/40 but Monfils converted his third opportunity.  Twelve minutes later he completed his 42nd win of the year (42-18 match record).

"I think we played great match, both of us," said Stepanek.  "I think I kind of wasted the first set, when I had a great start.  And I made - in the four games I lost in a row - three very easy mistakes, which cost me the first set.

"I had to dig in deep and fight back [at] the end of the second set.  I got on top of him and put him under pressure, attacking to the net a lot.  I was volleying better, because throughout the match I had moments when I was volleying pretty bad and missing easy volleys."

Monfils has hit 51 aces and has held serve in 44 of 52 games this week.  He broke into the Top 10 of the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings on 23 February and the following week he reached the Abierto Mexicano Telcel final (l. to Almagro in Acapulco).  Last month, he captured the Open de Moselle title in Metz (d. Kohlschreiber).

“I didn't play extraordinary tennis, but I played well," said Monfils.  "I tried to play very simply, to do simple passing shots, keep it simple.  I served for the match, but then I lost my focus.  I was thinking about the victory even before having one. 

"Radek took this opportunity to put pressure on me.  He started going up to the net, bluffing a little, and I was not able to find the right passing shot.  I lost my concentration.  Then I became tense, and he broke me and was able to win the set."

Stepanek won 57 per cent of service points and hit four aces.  He converted all five break point opportunities he created. 

Stepanek has won two ATP World Tour titles this year at the Brisbane International (d. Verdasco) and the SAP Open in San Jose (d. Fish).  He also finished runner-up at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis (l. to Roddick).  He dropped to a 47-20 season record (35-13 on hard courts).

"I'm crossing my fingers to stay healthy, because I know since I'm healthy I can compete with the best ones," said Stepanek, who turns 31 on 27 November, on his future plans.  "For me age doesn't matter.  I'm enjoying it.  I'm experienced, and I'm going to keep working hard to get even higher [up the rankings]."