Mayer, Andujar To Face Off In Bucharest Final

In a rematch of last year’s Bucharest final, fourth seed Pablo Andujar avenged his loss to top seed Juan Ignacio Chela, defeating the Argentine 6-4, 7-5 in the semi-finals of the BDR Nastase Tiriac Trophy on Saturday.

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Chela let leads slip in both sets and Andujar made him pay, winning 51 per cent of his return points to clinch the upset against the defending champion in one hour and 52 minutes. "I played a good match today, playing well during the important points," said Andujar. "I'm looking forward to the final. I've been feeling very well during the whole week, playing good matches."

Since advancing to the Bucharest final in 2010 as a 105th-ranked qualifier, Andujar has moved up to a career-best South African Airways ATP Ranking of 43 this week. He claimed his first ATP World Tour title in Casablanca (d. Starace) earlier this year and will look to add to his trophy collection when he takes on No. 2 seed Florian Mayer in Sunday’s final. "Mayer has more experience than me. But last year was my first final here and I became a more mature player in the meantime," believes Andujar.

"Every player is tough and every final is something special. I will try to face this match as if it was a normal first-round match."

Mayer dismissed Filippo Volandri 7-6(3), 6-2 to reach his second title match of the season.

The World No. 24 capitalised on a Volandri double fault in the first set tie-break, and closed out the set in 56 minutes with an ace. Though the Italian broke to start the second set, Mayer quickly regained command, winning the next three games to move ahead 3-1. He maintained his lead the rest of the way through, breaking Volandri at love in the final game to claim victory in one hour and 38 minutes. "I feel very happy. I played really good tennis today," assessed Mayer. "It was a tough match because Volandri played at a very high level."

Mayer improved to 2-0 against Volandri and was squaring off against the 30 year old for the first time since 2005 when he took their round of 16 meeting in Sopot.

The German is aiming to win his first career ATP World Tour title, having been a finalist on four occassions, including a runner-up finish in Munich earlier this year (l. to Davydenko). Andujar defeated Mayer in their lone meeting, which came in the second round of Bucharest last year. "I have to play at a high level like I did today to have a chance to win," Mayer said.