Form Players Davydenko, Ferrero To Square Off In Final

© Rene KaramanIt is the first time since 2005 that Juan Carlos Ferrero has reached multiple ATP World Tour finals in a season.

Two of the most in-form players on the ATP World Tour will clash in the final of the ATP Studena Croatia Open after top seed Nikolay Davydenko and fifth seed Juan Carlos Ferrero posted contrasting semi-final victories on Saturday at the ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament in Umag.

Davydenko affirmed his newly recovered Top 10 status by crushing Jurgen Melzer 6-1, 6-1 in just 50 minutes to reach his second successive ATP World Tour final. The 28 year old exhibited in full his recent glowing form in his sixth meeting with Melzer, producing a stunning serving display that saw him surrender just four points behind his delivery and record a first-serve percentage of 88 per cent - a vast improvement on the 53 per cent of first serves he converted in his quarter-final match. The Russian also converted five of nine break point opportunities and allowed the Austrian no chances to recover the service breaks.

Victory for the right-hander avenged the defeat he suffered against Melzer earlier in the season at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome and improved his career lead over the World No. 34 to 5-1.

The Russian rose from No. 12 to No. 9 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings this week, after capturing his 15th ATP World Tour title at Hamburg (d. Mathieu). He has now won nine successive matches and improved to a 29-8 match record on the season.

Since returning from a left heel injury that interrupted the first three months of Davydenko’s season, the Russian has gradually regained the red-hot form that took him to the final (l. to Djokovic) of Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai – now known as the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held at the 02 Arena in London – at the end of the 2008 season. Since the start of Roland Garros, where he reached the quarter-finals (l. to Soderling), the Russian has compiled a 17-3 mark.

Davydenko takes a 2-2 record against Ferrero into the title match and will hope for a repeat of the straight-sets defeat he inflicted on the Spaniard at Estoril in May.

Former World No. 1 Ferrero reached his second ATP World Tour final of the season after battling past Italian Andreas Seppi 6-1, 6-7(1), 7-5. In a hard-fought contest Ferrero was able to save five of six break points, while converting four of the eight break point chances he created on Seppi’s serve, to clinch victory after two hours and 38 minutes.

It is the first time since 2005 (Vienna and Barcelona) that the Spaniard has reached multiple ATP World Tour finals in the same season. The 29-year-old Ferrero ended a six-year title drought in April, when he triumphed in Casablanca (d. Serra), and will now contest his 29th tour-level final (12-16 record).

Ferrero enjoyed his best season in 2003, when he clinched four tour-level titles – including his lone Grand Slam championship at Roland Garros (d. Verkerk) – and ascended to the top spot in the South African Airways ATP Rankings on 8 September.

The right-hander fell on hard times at the start of the 2009 season as he dropped out of the Top 100 on multiple occasions, but his return to form in recent weeks has seen him claw his way back to No. 36. Ferrero was especially impressive during the grass-court campaign, reaching the semi-finals at London/Queen’s Club and the quarter-finals at Wimbledon – losing to Andy Murray on both occasions. He also sealed defending champion Spain’s place in the Davis Cup semi-finals with a fifth-rubber victory over Germany’s Andreas Beck last month.