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Kratochvil through to Tokyo final

Michel Kratochvil will meet the Australian Lleyton Hewitt in the final of the Japan Open tennis tournament Keystone Archive

The Swiss tennis player, Michel Kratochvil, has reached the final of the $970,000 ATP tournament in Tokyo after defeating Slovakia's Karol Kucera in straight sets, 6-0, 6-3.

Kratochvil took just 62 minutes to demolish his semi-final opponent and now goes on to meet Australia’s world number three, Lleyton Hewitt, in the final.

Top-seeded Hewitt booked his place in the final by defeating the unseeded American James Blake, 6-4, 6-0.

The Bernese player faces a difficult task against the winner of the US Open. Hewitt, who is ranked number one on hard courts, has clocked up an impressive record of 50 victories on this type of surface.

But the 22-year-old Kratochvil will be looking to build on the success of his first ever ATP final two weeks ago at the Shanghai tournament, when he defeated Germany’s Rainer Schüttler.

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