Stuttgart, July 20: Spain's Tommy Robredo will meet Argentine Guillermo Coria in the final of the Mercedes Cup. Robredo, seeded ninth, was leading 6-2 4-1 in Stuttgart on Saturday (July 19) when his opponent, Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, retired injured. Sixth-seeded Gonzalez, who was wearing a bandage around his right knee, accumulated unforced errors and struggled with his serve in the first set, which Robredo took in just 20 minutes. Robredo's fine display of baseline tennis continued in the second set, the Spaniard managing a break in the fourth game courtesy of a double fault from Gonzalez. The next game was a formality for Robredo before Gonzalez gave up and limped off. Coria extended his brilliant run on clay with a 6-4 6-0 demolition of Feliciano Lopez of Spain. The second seed has now won 15 of his past 16 matches on the slow surface. The unseeded Lopez, who had upset three seeds on his way to the last four, mounted a brave challenge in the first set, but then collapsed. A double fault from Coria followed by a forehand wide gave Lopez a break for a 3-1 lead in the first set. Coria broke back immediately before capturing his opponent's serve again in the ninth game to serve for the set, which he took with a service winner.


The second set was a one-sided affair with Coria, who has won the Hamburg Masters title this year and has also reached the final in Monte Carlo and the semi-finals at the French Open, teaching Lopez a claycourt tennis lesson.


Coria has not dropped a set in the tournament and defeated 2002 champion Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-0 6-0 in the quarter-finals on Friday. The final is on Sunday (July 20).


Bureau Report