Last year's runner-up Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina and Grega Zemlja, the qualifier from Slovenia, have reached the final of the Erste Bank Open on Saturday.
Del Potro beat Luxembourger Gilles Muller 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) in an exciting semifinal match. This will be Del Potro's fourth final of the year.
Grega Zemlja did well to defeat Serbian Janko Tipsarevic, the second-seeded player, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 in an intensely fought semifinal. This will be the first final for the 70th ranked Zemlja. He had 16 aces in his game.
''This is an incredible dream. I am full of confidence now. I have no tactics yet to play Del Potro. I will have to talk to my coach first,'' The Associated Press quoted Zemlja as saying.
Meanwhile, Del Potro would be eyeing his 12th title in as many as 17 career finals. This will also be his third title if he wins the game against Zemlja. He had been out of action for over a month due to a wrist injury, and this is his first major tournament after returning from it.
''Being in the final means a lot to me after a month without playing. I am getting better match by match. I am improving on my game, on my confidence. I am happy to play my second final in a row here,'' he said.
Del Potro looked very impressive with his short rallies and had no breaks of serve. He successfully converted his fourth match point with a brilliant 17th ace.
Speaking about his return, Del Potro said, ''Once again, I did not take my break point chances in this match so I will work on that. I miss a lot of break points. Against this kind of player, one break point is like match point or set point.''
Zemlja was on the verge of elimination when trailing 3-1 to Tipsarevic, after having lost the opening set. He bounced back like a champion and did not let the Serbian dominate after that.
''Only in the third set I started thinking about winning. I got the feeling the match was in my hands but it was hard work and I had to stay focused until the last point,'' he said.
Both Del Potro and Grega Zemlja are looking forward to winning the championship on Saturday. It promises to be an interesting contest as both players are playing each other for the first time and are pretty unsure of their strengths and weaknesses.
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