By Mike Sinclair, PA Sport

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David Nalbandian kept his Wimbledon dream alive in "the best week of my life" as he ended the hopes of Xavier Malisse and then told how he was happy to put concern for his stricken opponent ahead of his own ambitions.

The 20-year-old Argentinian set up Sunday's final showdown with top seed Lleyton Hewitt by wrapping up the final set in 32 minutes to complete his 7-6 6-4 1-6 2-6 6-2 semi-final victory in a match halted at two sets all by bad light the previous night.

But the talking point was still the lengthy breaks Malisse, suffering from palpitations, took during and after the first set 24 hours earlier.

At the time Nalbandian asked the umpire: "Is he going to stop 10 minutes each time?" and "He'll have to retire, won't he?"

But on Saturday he said: "I didn't know the rules exactly but the rules say if the doctor has to take one hour, they can do it. So he was on the rules, perfect, and I didn't know it.

"I didn't exactly know the problem but I think they were important. If he needs more time they have to take it because if he has very big problems in the heart maybe something bad is going to happen on court."

Malisse revealed that he went against doctors' advice when he returned to Court One to continue the match.

"That's their opinion but they don't know what happened. I've been to a cardiologist and I've had everything checked. Everything's fine, there's nothing to worry about.

"I was stressed yesterday. I get it sometimes when I'm really stressed. My heart beats faster but I know my body. I've had it before.

"It happened twice in the set because I was really tense," said the 21-year-old Belgian who returned to put the problems and a two-set deficit behind him to square the match before play was called off for the night.

When he served three aces in his opening service game on Saturday and then broke Nalbandian to go 2-1 up he looked to be on his way to the final.

But suddenly his game fell apart as he hit too many shots out of court and the young Argentinian seized the opportunity to become the first player to reach a men's singles final at his first attempt in the Open era.

Malisse, who was watched by Prince Philippe of Belgium, said: "I think today I was just a little bit too stressed.

"I wasn't just thinking about having fun, I was thinking about winning. It's unfortunate that after I was playing really well it became dark but that's sport.

"He played well. He kept his nerve a little bit better than I did."

Nalbandian agreed: "I don't know if he's tired or something but he did many mistakes and then I started playing good again."

He knows he will have to play even better to provide the perfect end to a magical journey from its humble beginnings of just a few weeks ago when he was being beaten by a group of juniors and his coach on the grass courts of the Hurlingham Club in Buenos Aires.

"I was losing the first matches to everyone actually but I started playing good and now I'm in the final here.

"We don't have too many grass courts but you have to try. It's not too difficult like everyone says. If you focus and if you try, you can make it," he said.

Nalbandian will be aiming to maintain his record of never having lost on grass at Wimbledon.

Three years ago he won through the quarter-finals of the junior event only to be disqualified for turning up late for the semi-final. "It was terrible," he recalled.

Reaching Sunday's final has more than made up for that but Nalbandian can hardly believe it.

"When I arrived with my coach we said we are going to win two or three matches and that's going be a great tournament for me. I said to my mum 'I'm going to be home next week' but I'm in the final right now.

"I think this is the best week of my life. This is great for me. I'm very happy."

Even if Lleyton Hewitt, who ended Tim Henman's Wimbledon hopes, wipes the smile off his face the Argentinian, who jumped more than 200 places in the world rankings last year, has still come a very long way in a remarkably short space of time.