Top seed Pablo Carreno Busta beat 4th seed David Ferrer 6-3 6-3 to secure his spot in the ATP 250 final at Estoril for the second consecutive year. Carreno Busta and Ferrer met for the second time in their careers.
Carreno Busta has clinched his 21st match win in 2017. Last year he lost the Estoril final to Nicolas Almagro. Earlier this year he finiished runner-up to Dominic Thiem in the final of the Rio Open in Rio de Janeiro.
Ferrer came to Estoril without a win since last January’s Australian Open and is now ranked outside the top 30.
Carreno Busta, who reached the semifinal in Indian Wells last March, was solid on serve and faced only one break point in the whole match. Ferrer served only at 53 percent and won just 9 out of 27 points on the second serve. The former Roland Garros finalist faced eight break points and dropped her serve three times. The first set went on serve in the first five games before Carreno Busta got the first break to open up a 4-2 lead, as Ferrer made two double faults and hit a backhand error. Carreno Busta failed to convert on four set points at 5-3 after a couple of forehand errors and a pair of forehand errors from Ferrer. Carreno sealed the first set on his fifth set point in the 9th game to wrap up the first set on his serve, as Ferrer sent a backhand long.
Ferrer saved three break points at the start of the second set but dropped his serve in the fifth game, as he netted a forehand. Carreno Busta fended off a break point in the eighth game to open up a 5-3 lead and got another break in the 9th game after winning a 16-stroke rally to close out on his first match point with a backhand volley winner. Carreno Busta will play the sixth final of his career.
Carreno Busta will take on Gilles Muller, who overcame Kevin Andrerson 7-5 6-4 in one hour and 38 minutes. Muller now leads 3-2 in his five head-to-head matches against Anderson, who reached his first semifinal since Winston Salem since 2015 and the first on clay since Houston in 2015.
Muller won just four more points than Anderson and saved four of the five break points he faced. Andreson saved eight of the eleven break points he faced.
Muller converted his fourth break opportunity in the third game of the third game, when Anderson sent his backhand into the net. Anderson broke straight back with a forehand return winner. Anderson fended off five break points with five winners to take a 5-4 lead in the ninth game and earned three set points on Muller’s serve in the 10th game. Muller fought them off with three winners (a first serve, a forehand winner and an ace), while he was serving at 4-5 and held his service game with a service winner to draw level to 5-5. Muller broke serve to 15 in the 11th game with a backhand error from Anderson and sealed the set with another service winner.
Muller got his only break of the second set at the start of the second set, as Anderson hit a backhand into the net. The player from Luxemburg held his next service games easily to seal the second set by 6-4 after dropping six points in five service games. Muller won his first title last January in Sydney and reached his career high of number 27 last February.
Carreno Busta and Muller are tied 1-1 in their previous two head-to-head matches, but the Spanish player won their most recent clash in the quarter finals in Estoril in 2015.
