Swedish star Joachim Johansson cruised through to his first ATP final with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over No. 2 seed Mardy Fish in the semifinals of the Kroger St. Jude in Memphis.

Johansson fired 15 aces and made 70 percent of his first serves as blew his American opponent aside in just 52 minutes.

"I've been serving very well this week and playing well from the baseline so I'm happy with my game so far," said Johansson. "I think I raised my game today from yesterday. It feels great to be in my first final, especially with the way I've been playing this week and to be in my first final in the States feels nice for me."

The 21-year-old dropped just one point on his serve in the opening set - that coming as he had three set points at 5-2, 40-0 - as Fish struggled to come to terms with the Swede's power just as Hyung-Taik Lee, James Blake and Xavier Malisse had before him.

Confidence

Fish, who was hoping to reach his second consecutive ATP final having lost to Andy Roddick in San Jose last week, had lost the first set in his first two matches this week against Olivier Mutis and Frederic Niemeyer. And the 22-year-old American made the worst possible start as Johansson broke Fish in the opening game of the match.

After sending down four consecutive aces to lead 3-1, Johansson was clearly brimming with confidence and was showing no sign of nerves in his first ATP semifinal. The Swede closed out the first set with his seventh ace of the match and made 15 of 17 first serves (88 percent) in the opener.

Johansson kept up the pressure in the second set, breaking the Fish serve to lead 2-1 with more breathtaking forehands from the baseline. As the crowd tried to lift the American's spirits, Fish responded with some tremendous defense to hang in, and twice had Johansson at 15-30 on his serve.

But Fish failed to capitalize as Johansson consistently drew upon his arsenal to get himself out of any trouble. At 5-4, he served for a place in his first final with two aces, finishing with his 15th of the match at 105mph out wide. He has now held serve 43 consecutive games in the tournament, and has only faced four break points.

And the Swede is not planning on changing anything ahead of Sunday's final. "I'm not used to being this far in an ATP tournament, so of course I got a little bit tight towards the end of the match," said Johansson. "But a match is a match still, so even if I have a chance to win the tournament tomorrow, I have to take it just as another match and see how it goes."

Dangerous

Fish, who had reached back-to-back semifinals for the first time in his career, had won both of their previous matches at last year's Australian and US Opens but it was a different story this time. "He's very dangerous," said Fish. "Today he showed he can serve big, hit big groundstrokes and goes for his shots. If I had his serve, that's the way that I would play if I were him - on the return games, go for your shots and then hold serve at love every time.

" It's pretty easy to be care-free on the return games when he knows he's got his serve in his back pocket. In the end, I would have liked to have played four out of seven sets - I was getting better and better at the end of the second set but he was just too good.

"I definitely didn't expect an easy match going out. At the US Open, we played on Arthur Ashe, it was my first match there but I was more used to a match like that. He's getting more and more experienced in situations like this and his game has developed a ton. Obviously physically he's bigger than everyone else, but mentally was his weakest point. This year and last year, he's really come on strong."