Umag Sunday Preview

© ATP Studena Croatia OpenPotito Starace will look to win his first career ATP World Tour title in his third final.

One of the most accomplished players on the ATP World Tour will face one of this week’s giant-killers as the final of the Studena Croatia Open Umag takes place Sunday.

Juan Carlos Ferrero, a former World No. 1 and now ranked No. 22, is through to his first final since his phenomenal Latin American winning streak earlier in the year, where he reached three straight finals - winning Costa do Sauipe and Buenos Aires before falling in the final of Acapulco to David Ferrer. The 30-year-old Spaniard lost his first set of the tournament but has won six in a row since then, and the No. 4 seed will now play his 33rd career final (14-18 in those).

The 29-year-old Potito Starace was not seeded but has ousted three this week, most notably No. 3 seed Ivan Ljubicic in the quarter-finals. Starace doesn’t have the title-winning experience Ferrero has, losing both of his previous ATP World Tour finals (although he did win the first set in both of those finals). He is also 1-5 head-to-head against Ferrero. But he is hungry to win Italy’s first ATP World Tour singles title in four years (Filippo Volandri won ‘06 Palermo).

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WHAT’S AT STAKE
Winner   €72,150 and 250 South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking points
Runner-up  €37,900 and 150 South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking points

FINALS HISTORY
Ferrero    33rd career final (14-18 in previous finals, 21st career clay court final, 11-9 in clay finals)
Starace   3rd career final (0-2 in previous finals, both on clay in Kitzbuehel and Valencia in 2007)

SUNDAY FINAL HEAD-TO-HEAD

Potito Starace (ITA) vs. (4) Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP) Ferrero Leads 5-1
06 Buenos Aires (Argentina) Clay QF Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3 7-5
07 Costa do Sauipe (Brasil) Clay QF Juan Carlos Ferrero 5-7 6-2 6-2
07 Acapulco (Mexico) Clay R32 Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-6(3) 4-6 6-3
07 ATP Masters Series Rome (Italy) Clay R32 Potito Starace 6-2 3-6 6-2
09 Casablanca (Morocco) Clay R16 Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-4 7-6(1)
09 Umag (Croatia) Clay R16 Juan Carlos Ferrero 1-6 6-3 6-2

Starace FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
SF: Casablanca (l Wawrinka); Nice (l Gasquet); QF: Sydney (l Gasquet); Hamburg (l Melzer)
YTD W-L: 21-17 (17-11 on clay)
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: July 14, 1981
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 64

• The Italian is playing in his first ATP World Tour final in 18 tournaments this year; had been to QFs or better four times this year already incl. SF finishes at Casablanca (l. to Wawrinka) and Nice (l. to Gasquet)
• This is his third appearance here (5-2); fell 1st Rd. in 2005 (l. to Ferrer) and 2nd Rd. in 2009 (l. to Ferrero); 4-0 this year (d. No. 7 seed Stakhovsky in 1st Rd., Phau in 2nd Rd., No. 3 seed Ljubicic in QFs, No. 8 seed Chela in SFs)
•  He is trying to become the first Italian winner on the ATP World Tour since Filippo Volandri in Palermo in 2006 and also the fourth first-time champion in 2010 – John Isner (Auckland), Ernests Gulbis (Delray Beach) and Andrey Golubev (last week in Hamburg)
• Career-high is No. 27 (set October 15, 2007)

Ferrero FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
W: Costa Do Sauipe (d Kubot); Buenos Aires (d Ferrer); F: Acapulco (l Ferrer); SF: Stuttgart (l Montanes); QF: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo (l Nadal); Hamburg (l Mayer)
YTD W-L: 31-13 (28-7 on clay)
YTD Titles: 2
Career Titles: 14
Date of Birth: February 12, 1980
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 22

• The Spaniard is appearing in his fourth ATP World Tour final of the year, first three coming in back-to-back-to-back weeks in February, winning Costa do Sauipe (d. Kubot in final), Buenos Aires (d. Ferrer in final) and Acapulco (l. to Ferrer in final); 14-match streak was second-longest of career (won 16 in a row during 2002 season) and was first time winning titles in back-to-back weeks
• Fourth appearance here (10-3 record); reached QFs in 2005 (l. to Coria) but fell 1st Rd. in 2006 (l. to Portas); runner-up last year (l. to Davydenko); 4-0 so far this year (as No. 4 seed w/1st Rd. bye, d. Cuevas in 2nd Rd., No. 6 seed Dolgopolov in QFs and Seppi in SFs)
• Career-high is No. 1 (spent eight straight weeks at No. 1 between September 8 and November 2, 2003)

DOUBLES FINAL – Friedl/Polasek (CZE/SVK) vs. (2) Cermak/Mertinak (CZE/SVK)
• Leos Friedl and Filip Polasek, unseeded, have lost two sets in their first three matches, although their only straight set win was their second round upset over No. 1 seeds and recent Wimbledon champions Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner (their match tie-break wins were over other unseeded teams)
• Friedl and Polasek are playing their first ATP World Tour doubles final together
• Frantisek Cermak and Michal Mertinak, the No. 2 seeds, have lost one set in three matches
• Cermak and Mertinak are playing their ninth ATP World Tour doubles final together, going 5-3 in their first eight (they won all five of their titles together last year, including right here in Umag)
• ATP World Tour doubles finals records: Friedl (15-16), Polasek (3-6), Cermak (21-15), Mertinak (11-4)