Starace battles into Umag final
Italy's Potito Starace
UMAG, Croatia (AFP) – Italy’s Potito Starace battled past eighth-seeded Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela to advance to the final of the ATP Croatia Open here on Saturday.
Starace came through 6-7, (4/7), 6-3, 6-2 in the semi-finals and next meets either former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain or Italy’s Andreas Seppi for the title.
“I’m extremely happy that I won against such a respected player,” said the 64th-ranked Starace, who ousted third-seeded Ivan Ljubicic in the quarter-finals of the clay-court tournament.
“Although the result maybe doesn’t show it for me it was a very difficult and exhausting match since I had a great opponent,” said the 29-year-old, who is bidding for his first title in his third final.
“I hope that I’ll be luckier tomorrow,” said the 29-year-old Italian, who finished runner-up in Valencia and Kitzbuhel in 2007.
The Italian opened a 5-2 lead in the first set before Chela came back to level 5-5 before winning the tie-break.
Starace bounced back in the second set thanks to an excellent serve, volleys and baseline game to again take a 5-2 lead but this time he held his advantage to level proceedings at one set all.
In the third set, the Italian continued to dominate winning the final four games from 2-2, to wrap up the tie in just under two and a half hours.
