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)