Del Potro Falls To Granollers; Monaco Ends Ferrer Run

© Valencia Open 500Del Potro is No. 10 in the battle for London with one tournament left.

Marcel Granollers dented Juan Martin del Potro’s hopes of qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, defeating the sixth seed 6-4, 7-6(4) in the semi-finals of the Valencia Open 500 on Saturday.

Granollers converted the only break of serve in the first set, and won 74 percent of his service points to clinch the upset in one hour and 53 minutes. The two were meeting for the first time.

Del Potro is currently No. 10 in the battle for London, but must reach the final at next week’s BNP Paribas Masters in Paris to have a shot at qualifying. Ranked as low as No. 484 on 7 February after missing the majority of the 2010 season with a wrist injury, the Argentine has compiled a 48-16 season record, climbing back to No. 14 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings.

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Granollers is looking to win his second title of the year after triumphing in Gstaad (d. Verdasco). In the final he will face Argentina’s Juan Monaco, who ended top seed David Ferrer’s 14-match winning streak in Valencia with a 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 victory over the Spaniard. Both players broke serve five times, but despite winning four points fewer than Ferrer overall, Monaco clinched victory in two hours and 15 minutes.

Monaco, who started the week by upsetting fourth seed Nicolas Almagro, is through to his first ATP World Tour final since February 2010, when he finished runner-up to Thomaz Bellucci. He came into Valencia on the back of four successive defeats and has now improved to a 28-24 match record on the season.

World No. 5 Ferrer was bidding to reach the final of this ATP World Tour 500 indoor event for the fourth time. He won the title last year with victory over Granollers and also triumphed when the event was staged on clay in 2008 (d. Almagro). He finished runner-up in 2005 (l. to Andreev).

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