British No. 3 Kyle Edmund was left to rue a costly lapse in concentration as he lost out to France's Lucas Pouille in the semifinals of the Vienna Open.
Edmund, took the opening set on a tie-break but Pouille hit back to win a hard-fought contest 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and 17 minutes.
Pouille had to save six break points in the opening set before racing into a 4-0 lead in the tie-break, the 23-year-old producing a brilliant backhand return winner down the line and benefiting from a double fault from his opponent.
Edmund refused to throw in the towel and saved two set points before taking the tie-break 9-7 to move within a set of reaching his first final at ATP World Tour level.
However, the 22-year-old promptly dropped his serve at the start of the second to allow Pouille back into the match and two more breaks in the decider sealed the outcome.
Pouille, who has already won ATP titles in Stuttgart and Budapest this year, will now play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in an all-French final.
World No. 15 Tsonga came through a tightly contested match with Philipp Kohlschreiber to advance to his second consecutive final, after he claimed the European Open title in Antwerp last week.
The 32-year-old, who finished as runner-up to Andy Murray in last year's tournament, needed a tie-break to win the first set but eventually emerged as a 7-6 (4), 7-5 winner over the German.