ATP

• Starace, Ferrero reach Umag final

  Umag, Croatia (Sports Network) - Fourth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero and Italian Potito Starace will contest the final at the clay-court Croatia Open after winning their respective semifinal matches Saturday.

  Ferrero, a former world No. 1, was a 6-4, 6-2 winner over Italian Andreas Seppi, while Starace battled back to upend eighth-seeded Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-2.

  Ferrero advanced to the final for a second straight year, as he was defeated in 2009 by Nikolay Davydenko. The Spaniard also reached his fourth final of the season, having contested the other three in February -- he won the Brasil Open and Copa Telmex, while losing in Acapulco.

  Ferrero is 14-18 all-time in ATP finals.

  Chela had defeated a top-seeded Davydenko in the quarterfinals, but was not able to continue his run against Starace.

  The Italian upended third-seeded Croatian hero Ivan Ljubicic in the quarters before beating Chela to reach his third career ATP final.

  Starace lost the championship matches at Kitzbuhel and Valencia in 2007.

  Ferrero is 5-1 all-time against Starace, who took his only win against the Spaniard in 2007.

  07/31 15:43:28 ET