A pair of Spaniards will play for the Abierto Mexicano TELCEL title for the second year in a row when No. 8 seed Rafael Nadal plays Albert Montanes on Saturday.
Nadal dropped the first game of the first set before finding his stride and cruising to a 6-4, 6-1 win over Mariano Puerta. The 18-year-old has yet to lose a set this week.
Montanes fought off a match point to overcome a stiff test from Agustin Calleri 7-6(3), 1-6, 7-6(4). Calleri sailed a forehand wide at 4-5, 30-40 on Montanes' serve, allowing the Spaniard to get back into the match and ultimately pull out in the win in two hours, 30 minutes.
The Abierto Mexicano Telcel final will be contested by a pair of Spaniards for the third time since 1997. Carlos Moya defeated Fernando Verdasco to capture his second Acapulco title last year, while Francisco Clavet defeated Juan Albert Viloca for the Mexico City title in 1997.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID:
Montanes: "I�m very happy with the way I played this match today. It was very difficult and complicated. I played well; I fought for every ball and that's the way I found the opportunity to beat him and did so with the first chance."
"Tomorrow I will try to play my game and I know he has a lot of confidence since he won Brazil but I will try to do my game and defeat him."
Calleri: "I made a mistake in the match point I had and I lost it there. It was a pretty good match. I was moving well in the first set, and played really well in the second set. I was playing really well this week. I played well in Brazil also and I had confidence to go far in these two tournaments."
Nadal: "I played well after the quarters and these two last matches I can say I reached a very good level in my game. I am really feeling good and I hope to continue like this tomorrow. I started to break down, but I think it is because I was a bit tired from yesterday. I wanted to have a long match. That helped me to calm down the nerves and got my game into place. I thought it would be like this."
"Tomorrow it is not going to be an easy match since Montanes is playing well and he defeated important players like Volandri in the quarters and now Calleri today. I am feeling better every day and I am not tired at the moment."
Puerta: "You need to be really 100 percent against Rafael, and I was a bit tired today. I am happy with this tournament and managed to prove that the final in Buenos Aires was not something by luck or chance. It is tough on tournaments when the final is played on Saturday since you don't have time to recuperate from the matches, but that's the way things are."
FINAL PREVIEW:
No. 8 seed Rafael Nadal takes a 2-0 lead in head-to-head encounters into his match with Albert Montanes on Saturday. Both wins came in straight sets at Challenger events. Nadal defeated Mariano Puerta 6-4, 6-1 in Friday�s semifinal while Montanes defeated Agustin Calleri 7-6(3), 6-1, 7-6(4).
Montanes had lost his previous four matches of the year leading up to this event. He has dropped just one set this week: he lost the first set 6-4 to Filippo Volandri before taking the next two 6-3, 6-4. He has already improved on his previous best performance at this event, a semifinal loss to Carlos Moya in 2002.
Nadal captured his second career ATP title last week in Costa do Sauipe (d. Martin in final). He holds a 15-4 record this year having reached the fourth round of the Australian Open (l.to Hewitt), quarterfinals in Doha (l. to Ljubicic), and ATP Buenos Aires (l. to Gaudio). He is currently No. 7 in the INDESIT ATP 2005 Race.
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