Julien Benneteau saw off Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to set up a final against Michael Llodra at the Open 13 in Marseille.
Benneteau broke serve three times but was forced to come through two tie-breaks - the first something of a marathon - as he prevailed in just under three hours.
The world number 39 has previously upset Gael Monfils 6-3 7-5 but had to work hard to take the upper hand against another higher-seeded home favourite.
A 13-11 tie-break scoreline was a fair reflection of an evenly matched set which saw Benneteau win 49 points to his opponent's 50, though four double-faults played their part as the lower-ranked player failed to wrap it up sooner.
The players each dropped their serve on two occasions before Tsonga produced a decisive late break to take the second 7-5, but a hard-fought third featured only a solitary break point.
That was wasted by Tsonga and Benneteau made him pay, taking the breaker in more routine fashion this time to complete a 7-6 (13/11) 5/7 7-6 (7/3) win.
Llodra made easier work of his fellow unseeded player, German Mischa Zverev, winning 27 of the 40 points contested in a one-sided first set.
Zverev won only one game during that period but put up a better fight in the second set, converting his only break point of the match to take it to a tie-break.
That was were his revival ended, though, Benneteau powering into a 6-1 lead and then converting the third of his available five match points to progress 6-1 7-6 (7/3) in an hour and 11 minutes.
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