The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Finalist \Fi"nal*ist\, n. (Sports)
   Any of the players who meet in the final round of a
   tournament in which the losers in any round do not play
   again.
   [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

finalist
    n 1: a contestant who reaches the final stages of a competition