World No. 47 Florent Serra advanced to his third ATP World Tour final with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over third-seeded Spaniard Albert Montanes on Saturday in the semi-finals of the Grand Prix Hassan II, an ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament in Casablanca.
The fifth-seeded Frenchman dropped his own serve once, but converted three of five break point chances on Montanes’ serve to record victory over the Spaniard in 88 minutes. Victory for Serra avenged the loss he suffered to Montanes in the first round of ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells last month.
“I had some difficult moments in the second set when I saved break points,” said Serra. “It was important to save those and remain aggressive. He had beaten me a month ago in Indian Wells and I'm happy that I made it this time. Now that I'm in the final I want to go one step further and win another title.”
The 28-year-old Serra is yet to drop a set en route to his first ATP World Tour final since January 2006. The Bordeaux native won his second ATP World Tour title in Adelaide (d. Hrbaty) on that occasion, having clinched his maiden title in September 2005 at Bucharest (d. Andreev). He has a 2-0 mark in ATP World Tour finals.
The right-hander improved to an 11-9 match record on the season, highlighted previously by quarter-final appearances in Brisbane (l. to Verdasco) and Delray Beach (l. to Fish). In the final he will face either top seed Igor Andreev or former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero.
“I don't have a real preference,” said Serra, considering his possible final opponent. “I have good memories from my match against Andreev in Bucharest. They have pretty similar styles. I have beaten Ferrero twice, but I have never played him on clay. I saw that he's very strong physically this week. I will have to play my game and be aggressive again.”
(From Website : http://www.atpworldtour.com/TENNIS/1/EN/NEWS/NEWSARTICLE_3027.ASP)
