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Two young men who arrived at the previous two Heineken Open tennis tournament described as players to watch will meet in the 2009 title decider on Saturday.
In January 2007 Heineken Open tennis organisers described wildcard Juan Martin Del Potro as a player whose name "is constantly raised when other players are asked who the group of next big things will be on the tennis tour".
A year later, Californian Sam Querrey was described as a player for whom "from US tennis' point of view there's a lot riding on his shoulders. He's certainly one they're putting big wraps on."
Neither made the impression in those years that the marketing suggested - both were beaten in straight sets in the first round.
But both have lived up to some of their promise in the meantime, winning five titles on the ATP World Tennis Tour between them last year.
Their efforts meant Del Potro, 20, arrived at this year's Heineken Open as the number one seed and Querrey, 21, seeded sixth, and both produced quality tennis this week to earn their places in Saturday's final.
Del Potro, the world number nine, has had the easier path. As one of the top four seeds he did not need to play in the first round, and he has only lost one set in his three matches, to Ernests Gulbis of Latvia in the second round.
Serbian Viktor Troicki was dispatched with ease in the quarterfinals, as was third seeded Swede Robin Soderling 6-4 6-3 in Friday's semifinal.
Unlike many Argentinians who seem best on clay, Del Potro prefers hard courts like the one in Auckland. His serve was big enough to earn him seven aces on Friday and he is beginning to develop a good net game.
He won four titles in succession in the middle of last year and will be favoured by many to win a fifth but he played down the benefit of that experience on Friday.
"All finals are different," said Del Potro, who appeared personable though not exuberant in his press conferences this week.
"I need to play very well if I want to win. Sam's playing very well."
Querrey, ranked 36 in the world, worked his way comfortably past New Zealander Dan King-Turner in the first round before coming from a set down to beat Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in the second round.
He then played an almost perfect service game to beat fourth seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in the quarterfinals, but had to overcome two match points to defeat ex-world number four David Ferrer of Spain yesterday 3-6 6-3 7-6.
"It's the second time in my career that I've come back from match point (to win)," Querrey said.
"The first time was in Las Vegas, the tournament that I won, in the first round against Sebastien Grosjean.
"I went into that tournament having lost twice in the first round and I decided to just go out and have fun and play aggressively.
"To win the tournament I've got to do what I did today - be aggressive, especially on the big points and take some chances, run around the second serve, try to crack a forehand as hard as I can. You've really got to take chances."
In contrast with the youthful look of the singles final, the doubles final which will act as a curtain-raiser to the singles match pits against each other two of the well-performed veterans of the doubles circuit who once won a Grand Slam together.
India's Leander Paes, 35, has won 40 doubles titles in his career, including four Grand Slams.
One of those was with the 2006 US Open with Martin Damm of the Czech Republic, a 36-year-old who has won 37 doubles titles of his own.
Paes and Scott Lipsky of the United States, the second seeds, play Damm and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden in Saturday's final.
Watch LIVE and exclusive coverage of finals day at the Heineken Open on TV ONE and streaming live on tvnz.co.nz from midday, Saturday January 17.
