Top two seeds David Ferrer and Stanislas Wawrinka are through to the Oeiras final following victories on Saturday. Ferrer eases past Andreas Seppi while Wawrinka needs three sets to hold off Pablo Carreno-Busta.
(2) Stanislas Wawrinka d. (Q) Pablo Carreno-Busta 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
Wawrinka booked a spot in his 11th career ATP final by defeating Carreno-Busta in one hour and 35 minutes at the Portugal Open on Saturday afternoon. Wawrinka fired 10 aces while double-faulting only once and he held 12 of 13 service games to set up a showdown for the title against David Ferrer.
Contesting his first career ATP semifinal having never even previously been to a quarterfinal, Carreno-Busta got off to a nervous start. He served at 42 percent in the first set, had no aces, and double-faulted three times. The world No. 228 managed to hold his first two service games before his opponent broke for a 4-2 advantage. Wawrinka faced no break points in the opener and he closed it out with little trouble.
The tide turned right away in set two. Carreno-Busta came up with some impressive net play to seize his first and only break of the day for a 2-0 lead. The 21-year-old Spaniard fought off both of the break points he faced to consolidate it the entire way and push Oeiras’ No. 2 seed to a third set.
Wawrinka, who had been incensed over Carreno-Busta getting advice from his coach in the previous set, delivered an inspired performance in the decider. The 16th-ranked Swiss broke right off the bat for a 2-0 advantage and there would be no recovery for the underdog. Wawrinka served at 82 percent in the third frame of play and cracked five aces without double-faulting. He finished it off in style with a love service hold at 5-1.
(1) David Ferrer d. (3) Andreas Seppi 6-1, 6-4
It must be becoming increasingly clear to Andreas Seppi that David Ferrer is simply a better version of himself. Perhaps much better. Ferrer improved to 5-0 lifetime against Seppi with yet another straight-set victory on Saturday. Their previous scorelines read 6-3, 6-3 followed by 6-2, 6-2 followed by 6-1, 6-4 followed by 6-3, 6-2. As such, it could not have come as a surprise to anyone when Ferrer prevailed 6-1, 6-4.
Seppi did not hold single time in the entire opening set. The 18th-ranked Italian lost the first four games of the match before breaking his opponent’s serve to get on the scoreboard for 1-4. Ferrer, however, promptly seized another break before closing out the opener at 5-1. A slightly more competitive second frame of play saw Seppi hold en route to a 3-3 deadlock. It was all but over, though, when Ferrer earned his fourth and final break of the day for a 4-3 advantage. The fourth-ranked Spaniard served out the proceedings from there and clinched his first match point at 5-4 when Seppi struck a backhand error.
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