Posted at 11:16 a.m., Saturday, July 28, 2007
Tennis: Moya, Pavel advance to Croatia Open final
Associated Press
UMAG, Croatia — Carlos Moya of Spain and Andrei Pavel of Romania advanced to the final of the Croatia Open with two-set victories today.Moya has a chance to win his fifth title at Umag on Sunday after defeating Argentina's Guillermo Canas 6-3, 6-2 in one semifinal. Pavel beat Serbian qualifier Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-3 in the other.
Moya won the tournament in 1996, 2001, 2002 and 2003, and has a 42-8 record in Umag.
"Of course I hope to win again," Moya said.
He dominated the match from the start and gave up only one service break, to put Canas up 1-0 in the second set.
Pavel advanced to his first ATP Tour final since Poertschach, Austria, in May last year.
"It's like a dream right now," he said.
Pavel controlled the match against Troicki, making the most of his precise backhand and a good serve.
Troicki, playing in his first tour semifinal, had ousted top-seeded Novak Djokovic in the second round, but could not pull off another upset. Troicki broke Pavel's serve to level the second set at 1-1, but then lost the next four games.
The 21-year-old Troicki, ranked 176th, said he "physically could not take it anymore. I was tired."
