Ferrer To Meet Dolgopolov For Båstad Crown

David Ferrer recorded his 25th match win at the SkiStar Swedish Open on Saturday, where he hopes to claim his third title at the beach resort tournament against Alexandr Dolgopolov. It will be Ferrer’s first ATP World Tour final since October 2015 at the Erste Bank Open 500, one of five titles he won that year.

Former World No. 3 Ferrer, who ranks fifth in the active title-leaders list behind the ‘Big Four’ with 26 career crowns, takes a 9-4 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Dolgopolov into the final. Dolgopolov did, however, win their last clash 6-4, 6-4 at the Rio Open presented by Claro in February.

Eighth seed Ferrer cruised into his fourth Båstad final – and his 52nd overall (26-25 record) – on his 10th tournament appearance, with a 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-4 victory over fellow Spaniard and sixth seed Fernando Verdasco, the 2013 and 2016 runner-up.

Ferrer lost 10 points in the opening set, which saw him sweep to a 4-0 lead in 13 minutes before Verdasco held to 30 for his first game. But it was a different matter in the second set with Verdasco winning eight of the first 10 points and, at one point, holding a 3-1 advantage. Ferrer fought back, breaking in the sixth game, but could not convert two match point at Ad-Out on Verdasco’s serve at 4-5.

Ferrer responded and while Verdasco recovered from 0/40 in the first game of the decider, which included five break points, the pressure mounted. Ferrer broke once to 30 in the third game and held on to complete victory in two hours and 10 minutes. The 35 year old is now 14-14 on the season.

Ferrer beat his compatriot Nicolas Almagro in the 2007 and 2012 finals. He also finished runner-up to Robin Soderling, who has attended the ATP World Tour 250 tournament this week as part of its 70th anniversary celebrations, in 2011.

Ukraine’s Dolgopolov will compete for his fourth ATP World Tour title on Sunday. Dolgopolov defeated Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov, in their first tour-level meeting, 6-3, 6-2 over 64 minutes for a place in his eighth final (3-4 record). The World No. 89 captured the Argentina Open title in Buenos Aires (d. Nishikori) in February.

“We had a lot of tight games and he had a number of chances on my serve, but I kept it tight and ran away with it in the second set,” said Dolgopolov.

The 28-year-old Dolgopolov got off to a perfect start by coming close to taking a 4-0 lead, but could not convert three break point opportunities in the fourth game. He broke twice in the second set at 2-2 and 4-2, before closing out on his third match point chance.

On Friday, Ferrer and Dolgopolov both saved two match points in their quarter-final victories over Henri Laaksonen and fifth seed and #NextGenATP Karen Khachanov, respectively.

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Knowle/Petzschner End Swedes Run
Julian Knowle and Philipp Petzschner knocked out Swedish brothers Elias Ymer and Mikael Ymer 6-4, 2-6, 10-3 in 75 minutes for a place in the final. Knowle and Petzschner won nine of 10 points from a 1-2 deficit in the Match tie-break.

Knowle, who sealed the 2007 trophy with Swede Simon Aspelin (d. Garcia-Prieto), will attempt to win his first ATP World Tour doubles crown since June 2014 at the Gerry Weber Open (w/Begemann). The 43-year-old Austrian has an 18-25 record in finals.

Petzschner will attempt to improve upon a 6-7 record in doubles finals. His last trophy came in October 2014 at the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna (d. Melzer).

They will meet Sander Arends and Matwe Middelkoop in Sunday’s championship match.