By TERRY MADDAFORD
A shell-shocked Jiri Novak has no doubts that he was knocked out of Auckland's international Open yesterday by one of the rising stars of tennis.
The Czech second seed had few answers as unseeded Spanish 17-year-old Rafael Nadal ended any thoughts Novak may have had of taking his second
Heineken Open.
It took Nadal just 64 minutes to demolished Novak 6-1, 6-3.
Nadal will play his first ATP final against world No 57 Dominik Hrbaty, also unseeded, in this afternoon's final at the ASB Bank Tennis Centre.
"He is going to be one of the best players in the world," 28-year-old Novak said of his younger opponent after yesterday's loss.
"My best shots kept coming back at me. He was everywhere. He was very fast. I could not find my rhythm. He was just better."
Nadal, asked after yesterday's win what he would do to prepare for the biggest match of his life, simply said: "Nothing.
"I'm very happy with the way I played today.
"This gives me a lot of confidence. Getting to the final here is something special."
Veteran American tennis writer Bud Collins was left shaking his head after Nadal's amazing victory.
"I hesitate to say he is as good as [Swede] Bjorn Borg at that age," Collins said. "But he certainly has the complete game. His inside-out forehand was something to behold. Maybe a star has been born in Auckland."
If Nadal wins this afternoon, he will join Borg as the youngest winners of the Open. Borg won as a 17-year-old in 1974.
Any chance Novak had of repeating his 1996 Open win quickly disappeared. Not much later, defending champion Gustavo Kuerten followed the same short route out - going down 3-6, 2-6 to 2001 winner Hrbaty.
This afternoon's final will pit the two unseeded players against each other for the second time, with 26-year-old Hrbaty looking to stretch his unbeaten start to the year to 10 matches.
He won the Australian hardcourt title in Adelaide last week.
Hrbaty also has the psychological advantage of winning their only other meeting - indoors in Lyon last October.
