Comparisons with Roger Federer have already begun and Bulgarian rising star Grigor Dimitrov lived up to the hype with a 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5) Brisbane International semi- final win over crowd favourite Marcos Baghdatis.
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The youngest player in the world's top 50 belied his 21 years to outlast Baghdatis after almost two-and-a-half hours yesterday and book his first ATP World Tour final appearance.
He will play top seed Andy Murray today after the Scot's opponent - fifth seed Kei Nishikori of Japan - pulled out of their semi-final with a knee injury while trailing 6-4, 2-0.
World No.48 Dimitrov's style has already reminded experts of a certain young Swiss who went on to compile a handy resume.
Federer may be a hard act to follow, but few could argue about Dimitrov's potential after the young gun shot down world No.36 Baghdatis in an epic clash.
"It is a great feeling, especially at the first tournament of the year," Dimitrov said.
"It should be a fun match. I have nothing to lose."
Dimitrov had been tipped to be one of the youngsters to enjoy a breakthrough year in 2013.
And the Federer comparisons will only get louder after he added Baghdatis to a list of Brisbane scalps that also included second seed Milos Raonic, of Canada, and No.7 Jurgen Melzer, of Austria.
But he was trying to keep his feet on the ground.
"Talent alone doesn't win a tennis match. I have tried to learn that early because of the expectations," Dimitrov said.
"But the good thing about tennis is that everything is in your hands."
