Great Britain's Cameron Norrie will have the chance to win the ASB Classic in front of his former hometown, after reaching Saturday's final.
The 27-year-old sealed his spot in the final with a straight sets victory over USA's Jenson Brooksby, taking just shy of one hour and 40 minutes to take a 6-3, 6-4 win over the unseeded American.
Now playing under the British flag, Norrie has the chance to win the Auckland tournament for the first time, and better his previous best result - runner-up in 2019, when he lost to American Tennys Sandgren.
Norrie's place in the final will have organisers breathing a sigh of relief, as the last seeded player left standing in what's so far been a tournament of upsets.
Top seed Casper Ruud was knocked out in the round of 16, while third seed Diego Schwartzman was forced to withdraw midway through his clash - against Brooksby - with injury.
But the presence of Norrie in the decider is a huge boost, giving the local fans something to cheer for as a former Bucklands Beach junior player.
"It was an absolute battle with Jenson," said Norrie. "A lot of long rallies, I know how well he competes.
"It was nice to get it done in straight sets. I just really enjoyed it.
"I'm glad the sun came out, everyone came out on a Friday, it was an amazing atmosphere."
The Brit has the chance to claim his fifth career title on Saturday, with his last win coming in Lyon, France in May 2022.
Norrie will meet French veteran Richard Gasquet who was fortunate to be given a free pass into the final when compatriot Constant Lestienne was forced to withdraw with injury.
Lestienne, 30, suffered an injury to his shoulder in the early hours of Friday morning, when he defeated Serbia's Laslo Djere in the quarter-final.
But the injury did not have enough time to recover after such a short turnaround, and left Lestienne with no other option but to withdraw before play could begin.
That pits Gasquet against Norrie, with the 36-year-old gunning for a 15th career title when the pair meet on Saturday.
Gasquet has played close to 1000 singles matches on the ATP Tour, but has not won a final since 2018, when he beat fellow Frenchman Jeremy Chardy at the Netherlands' Rosmalen Championships.
