Fourth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero and Italian
Potito Starace will contest the final at the clay-court Croatia Open after
winning their respective semifinal matches Saturday.
Ferrero, a former world No. 1, was a 6-4, 6-2 winner over Italian Andreas
Seppi, while Starace battled back to upend eighth-seeded Argentine Juan
Ignacio Chela, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-2.
Ferrero advanced to the final for a second straight year, as he was defeated
in 2009 by Nikolay Davydenko. The Spaniard also reached his fourth final of
the season, having contested the other three in February -- he won the Brasil
Open and Copa Telmex, while losing in Acapulco.
Ferrero is 14-18 all-time in ATP finals.
Chela had defeated a top-seeded Davydenko in the quarterfinals, but was not
able to continue his run against Starace. The Italian upended third-seeded
Croatian hero Ivan Ljubicic in the quarters before beating Chela to reach his
third career ATP final.
Starace lost the championship matches at Kitzbuhel and Valencia in 2007.
Ferrero is 5-1 all-time against Starace, who took his only win against the
Spaniard in 2007.
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