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Ferrer to meet Almagro in all-Spanish Buenos Aires final

February 26, 2012 09:16 IST

World number five David Ferrer overwhelmed local favourite David Nalbandian 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday and will meet holder Nicolas Almagro in Sunday's all-Spanish Buenos Aires Open final.

Number two seed Almagro beat Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in the first semi-final before top seed Ferrer's crushing victory, which included a rain delay, in the claycourt tournament in windy conditions.

Ferrer, runner-up two years ago, was always in control against former world number three Nalbandian, who was looking to boost his ranking from his current 85th place in a bid to qualify for the London Olympic games.

The Spaniard, who has yet to drop a set in the tournament, won on his third match point after Nalbandian had saved two when 3-5 down in the previous game.

Nalbandian attempted a drop shot which Ferrer just managed to reach to lift the ball over the Argentine and into the corner for the victory.

"Everything I did came out perfectly. David (Nalbandian) maybe didn't have a very good day and I was able to take advantage of that," Ferrer said in a courtside interview.

On the change in the weather that occurred during the first set and brought the wind, Ferrer added: "Those are things that can happen and you have to be able to overcome them."

Almagro, pushed all the way by Wawrinka in a very even duel, won on his first match point when the Swiss sixth seed's forehand return found the net.

"We both played at a very high level, it was decided by small differences," said world number 11 Almagro, who is now one win from repeating his 2011 back-to-back BrazilĀ Open and Buenos Aires Open victories.

"I'm happy because last year I achieved something very important in my career and I knew it would be very difficult (to repeat it)," said the 26-year-old.

"I've won a match that in the long term, during the year, will do me a lot of good."

Source: REUTERS
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