American Taylor Fritz booked his place in the men's final at Indian Wells with a 7-5 6-4 win over Andrey Rublev.
Fritz got the crucial break in the first set when Rublev was serving to stay in the set.
The Russian sent a backhand just wide when he had break point at 4-4 in the second set and Fritz recovered to hold.
He then broke world number seven Rublev in the next game to take the match in California and will play Rafael Nadal or Carlos Alcaraz in Sunday's final.
"It sounds like a dream come true. I can't even believe it's real," world number 20 Fritz told Amazon Prime.
"[It was] definitely the best I've played this week. I was finally putting it together, being way more aggressive than I've been all week."
Fritz, 24, also revealed he suffered an ankle injury in the final stages of the match.
"I pinched the back of my right ankle," he said. "I think it was on one of those points where I was trying to grind out balls on my serve.
"It didn't feel too bad but the first point when I took a really explosive push-off step to return the serve, it hurt a lot.
"Hopefully, it's just a little tweak and we'll get it sorted out. I was looking for the trainer."
Fritz will be aiming to become the first American men's winner at Indian Wells since Andre Agassi in 2001.