RIO DE JANEIRO: Spaniard David Ferrer reached the final of the ATP Rio Open Saturday with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer to set up a potential meeting with top-seeded compatriot Rafael Nadal.
"As I Spaniard it would be better if it were Nadal" to tackle in the final, said second seed Ferrer, who saw off 74th-ranked Haider-Maurer in 1hr 24min.
Nadal, who only came off court at 3:30 a.m. after his overnight quarter-final win over Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas, was up against Italian Fabio Fognini in the other semi.
Ferrer twice dropped serve against Haider-Maurer in a tight opener on center court at the swish Rio Jockey Club but the Spaniard moved through the gears to break in the 11th game and then motored through the second set.
The women's final will pitch 16th-ranked Italian Sara Errani, the top seed, against 75th-ranked Slovak Anna Schmiedlova on Sunday.
Errani came past fifth-seeded Swede Johanna Larsson 7-5, 6-3 while sixth seed Schmiedlova shocked second-seeded Romanian hope Irina Begu 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
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