Top seed and World No. 4 Andy Murray of Scotland meets unseeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia on Sunday in the final of the Valencia Open 500. Murray won the previous meeting in a third set tie-break in the semi-finals of St. Petersburg two years ago en route to the title.

Murray is attempting to earn his ATP World Tour-best sixth title of the year while Youzhny is trying to capture his second title in the past three weeks. Murray, who is making his 20th career final appearance, enters with a 62-9 match record on the season and he’s second in match wins on the ATP World Tour behind Novak Djokovic (70).

 

WHAT’S AT STAKE –
Winner: € 323,000 and 500 South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking points.
Runner-up: € 149,250 and 300 South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking points
 
FINALS HISTORY –
 Murray: Appearing in his 20th ATP World Tour level final……….He is 13-6 in finals (5-1 in 2009)
 Youzhny: Appearing in his 12th ATP World Tour final……………...He is 5-6 in finals (1-2 in 2009)

CHAMPIONSHIP HEAD-TO-HEADS –

(1) Andy Murray (GBR) vs Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) Murray Leads 1-0
07 St. Petersburg (Russia) Carpet SF Andy Murray 6-2 5-7 7-6(1)

Murray FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
W: Doha (d Roddick); Rotterdam (d Nadal); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (d Djokovic); London / Queen's Club (d Blake); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Canada (d Del Potro); F: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells (l Nadal); SF: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo (l Nadal); Wimbledon (l Roddick); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Cincinnati (l Federer); QF: Dubai (W/O vs Gasquet); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid (l Del Potro); Roland Garros (l Gonzalez)
YTD W-L: 62-9
YTD Titles: 5
Career Titles: 13
Date of Birth: May 15, 1987
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 4

• Murray, 22, advanced to his seventh ATP World Tour final of the season Saturday with a 63 26 63 win over No. 4 seed Fernando Verdasco.  En route to the final, he beat Albert Montanes, 64 62 in the quarter-finals, Leonardo Mayer 64 36 63 in the second round and made his tournament debut with a 63 61 win over Daniel Gimeno-Traver
• He has captured five ATP World Tour titles for the second straight year and reached a career-high No. 2 ranking after winning his fourth career ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Montreal in August
• He is 62-9 on the season, including 43-4 on hard courts…He also is undefeated indoors (11-0) in 2009
• He is making his 20th career final appearance (13-6) and he is 7-2 in indoor finals
• He is one of three players to win 60 or more matches this year, joining Djokovic (70) and Nadal (61)…He also improved to 12-5 this year vs. Top 10 opponents with his SF win over No. 8-ranked Fernando Verdasco
• He began season by defending his title in Doha with back-to-back wins over No. 2 Federer (SF) and No. 8 Roddick (F)...Held serve 47 of 50 games throughout tournament...Then followed with a fourth round showing at Australian Open where he lost to Fernando Verdasco in five sets
• In February, he defeated World No. 1 Nadal in three sets in Rotterdam final to capture his 10th career ATP World Tour title
• He returned in March to reach final at BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, falling to Nadal…En route to title match, he beat No. 15 Robredo in fourth round and  No. 2 Federer in SF for fourth consecutive time since losing to Swiss in ’08 US Open final…Followed by capturing his third title of season at Sony Ericsson Open in Miami over No. 3 Novak Djokovic…He became first British player in tournament's 25-year history to win title…
• Turned in career-best QF run at Roland Garros, losing to Fernando Gonzalez in four sets...Then began his grass court campaign at Queen's by capturing his first title on surface with win over James Blake in final...Became first British player since Bunny Austin in 1938 to earn title at Queen's Club...Did not drop a set and only lost serve twice in tournament...Continued strong grass-court form into Wimbledon, where he defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets to reach his first semi-final at All England Club before losing in four sets to Andy Roddick
• The Scot returned to action at Rogers Cup in Montreal, where he defeated three Top 10 players (No. 8 Davydenko, No. 7 Tsonga, No. 6 del Potro) to win his fourth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 trophy…
Afterwards rose to a career-high No. 2 on Aug. 17 and was there for four weeks …He is highest-ranked British player in ATP history (since 1973) and first player to break Federer-Nadal stronghold on top two spots since Lleyton Hewitt ranked No. 2 on July 18, 2005...Followed with SF in Cincinnati, losing to eventual champion Federer
• At US Open, made a fourth round exit to No. 16 seed Marin Cilic...Then played in Davis Cup tie vs. Poland, winning both singles rubbers in 3-2 loss in World Group playoff tie…He re-aggravated a left wrist injury during weekend tie and withdrew from Asian tournaments in Tokyo and Shanghai

Youzhny FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
W: Moscow (d Tipsarevic); F: Munich (l Berdych); Tokyo (l Tsonga); SF: Kitzbühel (l Garcia-Lopez); QF: Rotterdam (l Ancic); Marseille (l Llodra); London / Queen's Club (l Blake); Kuala Lumpur (l Gonzalez)
YTD W-L: 42-27
YTD Titles: 1
Career Titles: 5
Date of Birth: June 25, 1982
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 23

• Youzhny, 27, came back to beat No. 2 seed and countryman Nikolay Davydenko 36 64 63 to advance to his fourth ATP World Tour final of the season…The Moscow native, who is playing in the tournament for the first time in eight years, beat No. 3 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who retired trailing at 67(3) 63 3-0 in the first round with a left wrist injury…He then followed with a 62 26 61 win over Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay and a 64 64 victory over No. 5 seed Gilles Simon
• The No. 2 Russian (behind No. 7 Davydenko) owns a 42-27 record on the season, including 27-16 on hard courts…He is trying to defeat a Top 10 opponent for the third time in the tournament…He is 23-50 lifetime against Top 10 opponents (4-2 this year)
• Two weeks ago he rallied to defeat Janko Tipsarevic in three sets in the Kremlin Cup final in his 11th Moscow appearance… He extended the Russian title streak in Moscow to six straight years with his fifth career ATP World Tour crown
• It was his third ATP World Tour final of the season after runner-up efforts in Munich (l. to Berdych) in May and Tokyo (l. to Tsonga) last month…He is 5-6 in career ATP World Tour finals

DOUBLES FINAL - CERMAK-MERTINAK IN SEVENTH FINAL, GRANOLLERS-ROBREDO IN SECOND

No. 3 seeds Frantisek Cermak and Michal Mertinak will face unseeded Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Tommy Robredo in Sunday's final of the Valencia Open 500.

Cermak and Mertinak stayed on track to seal one of the remaining four berths at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals by reaching their seventh ATP World Tour final of the season. The Czech-Slovakian duo are currently eighth in the year-to-date 2009 ATP Doubles Team Rankings and have 3,200 points, just 95 points behind seventh-placed Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman. The top eight teams qualify for the season finale, to be held at The O2 in London later this month.

In their debut season together, Cermak and Mertinak have compiled a 44-24 mark, highlighted by winning four ATP World Tour titles on clay. Their last title came in September at the BCR Open Romania (d. Brunstrom-Rojer) in Bucharest and two weeks ago reached the Kremlin Cup final (l. to Cuevas-Granollers) in Moscow.

Granollers and Robredo are 10-3 lifetime together since making a successful debut in February in Costa do Sauipe, where they captured the title (d. Arnold Ker-Monaco).

Granollers is trying to collect his fourth ATP World Tour title of the season with third different partner. He won in Costa do Sauipe (w/Robredo), Buenos Aires (w/Martin) and Moscow (w/Cuevas). He is 3-1 lifetime in ATP World Tour finals. Robredo, who is trying to pick up his second title of the year, is 3-3 in his career in ATP World Tour doubles finals.