KEY POINTS:
Rain and power cuts disrupted play during the semifinals of the US$25,000 ($30,990) Pro Circuit Futures tennis event in Wellington yesterday as New Zealand's remaining hope was eliminated.
New Zealand No 2 Rubin Statham had caused a couple of upsets during the tournament, especially beating No 1 Dan
King-Turner in the quarters on Friday but he couldn't repeat it against second seed Rameez Junaid of Australia.
Statham, 20, won the first set 6-3 and to add to the drama after a contentious line call at 1-2 in the third set, the lights in the Renouf Tennis Centre went out. Statham held his nerve to go ahead 3-1 but then Junaid, ranked 317th in the world, reeled off the next five games to win the set and then regained his form to take the final set 6-3 in the two-and-a-half hour-plus match.
Statham and Junaid also had to change indoor courts after rain leaked through the ceiling on to their court.
It was Statham's eighth semifinal finish at ITF Futures events.
In the other men's semifinal, top seed Colin Ebelthite of Australia came from a set down to defeat countryman and fourth seed Andrew Coelho 5-7 6-4 6-2.
The women's semifinals featured Australian Marija Mirkovic, who started her match against seventh seed Kyung-Yee Chae of Korea outdoors but moved inside because of the rain when leading 7-6 0-1.
Mirkovic, barely 18, defeated Chae 7-6(2) 6-4 for a place in her first final at US$10,000 Futures level.
She will take on top seed Michaela Johansson, 19, of Sweden, who won the other women's semi 6-1 6-2 over Varatchaya Wongteanchai of Thailand.
Johansson will be the favourite in the final today, considering she has dropped just 13 games in her four matches so far.
* Teenager Olga Govortsova of Belarus upset third-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel 6-3 3-6 6-4 at the Memphis Championship yesterday to reach her first WTA final. The 19-year-old fifth seed shrugged off four double faults to scrape through a tight semifinal in two hours and book a place in the title match with Lindsay Davenport, who beat Kiwi Marina Erakovic in the other semifinal.
"It feels great, getting into my first final," Govortsova said. "I am playing really well now and in the third set, I wanted to win so badly."
Govortsova beat Peer, then ranked 18th in the world, at Stanford last year to achieve her first victory over a top-20 player. "Now I have beaten her again so I have confidence against her. But she is a good player and it's hard to beat her."
Peer, who is still ranked 18th, said: "It was a good match and it could have gone either way. I had some chances in the first set and I didn't make them."