Gilles Simon remained on course to win his third BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy title after progressing through to Sunday's final with a straight sets win over Matthias Bachinger.
Top seed Simon, who was a back-to-back winner in his last two visits to Bucharest in 2007 and 2008, claimed a 7-5 6-2 victory over his German opponent in a match that lasted one hour 47 minutes and will now face Italian Fabio Fognini in the final.
The French world number 12 fashioned 17 break points, five of which he converted, while Bachinger could not take advantage of either is his two break points.
Despite rarely looking like losing, Simon admitted it was not an easy victory, saying on www.atpworldtour.com: "It was a difficult match again. His serve was amazing today and he saved many break points with aces or winners."
Looking ahead to the final, a confident Simon added: "I feel good. I know that I can play very good here. I know the centre court perfectly and I really think I can win this tournament one more time."
Standing in the Frenchman's way is Fognini, who ended the impressive run of Hungarian qualifier Attila Balazs with a 6-3 6-1 win in today's other semi-final.
Fornini needed just over an hour to see off the challenge of the world number 450 to reach his first ATP World Tour final.
The 24-year-old, who has lost each of his previous three meetings with Simon, said: "I've lost maybe six or seven semi-finals in a row, but today I was really solid. I couldn't imagine making the final on my first time here. But when I was injured I was working hard every day and now a little dream has come true.
"The tournament is not finished yet. Tomorrow I will give it 110% against a really good player and we will see what happens."
