Garcia-Lopez reaches first ATP final
KITZBUEHEL, Austria -- Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain and Julien Benneteau of France will play in the Austrian Open final on Saturday.
Need the scores from any match played in today's tournaments? In Friday's semifinals, Garcia-Lopez stopped seventh-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (5), and Benneteau defeated Oscar Hernandez of Spain 6-3, 6-4.
Garcia-Lopez will play in his first ATP Tour final. Benneteau lost both of his previous finals in 2008. Benneteau is 1-0 against Garcia-Lopez after defeating the Spaniard at the 2006 Australian Open.
Benneteau had lost in the qualifying round but entered the main draw when Nicolas Devilder pulled out with an ankle injury.
"I needed to play a couple of matches before the French Open, but now I've gone all the way to the final," Benneteau said. "I am really happy with the way I am playing here."
The 25-year-old Garcia-Lopez, ranked 74th, used an early break to win the opening set. Youzhny, the only seeded player left in the tournament, dominated the second with a more attacking approach.
The Russian, who reached the final of the BMW Open in Munich this month, saved a match point at 5-4 down in the third when Garcia-Lopez hit a backhand return long.
In the tiebreaker, Garcia-Lopez converted his fifth match point with a forehand winner.
"My first final, that's incredible," Garcia-Lopez said. "I can't find the right words to describe my feelings."
The 45th-ranked Benneteau was broken at 5-2, but closed it out in his next service game on his first match point when Hernandez missed a backhand.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
