MOSCOW, October 26 (R-Sport) – World No. 21 Mikhail Youzhny reached the final of the Valencia Open on Saturday with a straight-sets win over Dmitry Tursunov.
It took the 31-year-old Youzhny one hour and 15 minutes to register a 6-2, 6-4 win in the all-Russian encounter.
Tursunov was the first one to break his opponent’s serve to go 2-1 up, but then got sloppy to drop five games in a row and with them the first set.
The second set went unbroken till the 10th game, when Tursunov lost his serve, finishing the match with his fourth double fault.
In the final, Youzhny will meet either local favorite David Ferrer, seeded first, or another Spaniard Nicolas Almagro. The Russian has a head-to-head edge over both.
It will be his second final in the Spanish city, where he also finished runner-up in 2009, losing to Andy Murray.
It was a third semifinal of the year for Tursunov, who was nominated for the ATP Comeback Player of the Year on Thursday.
The Valencia Open is an ATP 500 hard court event with a $2 million prize fund.