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 Paire, competing in his first ATP Tour 500 semi-final, looked out of
sorts in the opening set but found his range following a medical
timeout in the second to re-tape his ankle.
The bearded 26-year-old Frenchman grew in confidence with some
strong returns and big serves to secure a 1-6 6-4 6-2 win over the
double defending champion, who became more tentative as the match
wore on.
Paire won his first ATP Tour title on the clay at Bastad in July and
will go in search of his second against French Open champion
Wawrinka, who served strongly in taking out Gilles Muller of
Luxembourg.
The Swiss top seed coming through 6-4 7-6(5) to reach his fourth
final of the year.
The opening set went with serve before Wawrinka broke in the seventh
game and went on to close it out, dropping just four points on serve
in the set.
Muller, who will break back in to the top 40 after his strong run in
Japan, found a way to pressure Wawrinka in the second set by rushing
the Swiss and breaking serve but failed to capitalize as he lost his
own.
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The set went to a tiebreak with Muller putting a backhand volley
wide to hand Wawrinka the win on his first match point.
(Writing by Patrick Johnston in Singapore; editing by Amlan
Chakraborty)
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