Zagreb, Croatia (SportsNetwork.com) – Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain and
Italy’s Andreas Seppi were semifinal winners Saturday at the Zagreb Indoors
and will meet for the title.
The third-seeded Garcia-Lopez claimed a 6-4, 6-4 win over Marcos Baghdatis of
Cyprus in the first semifinal and the fifth-seeded Seppi denied an all-Spanish
final with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 victory over Marcel Granollers.
Baghdatis, the 2007 Zagreb champ, opened a quick 2-0 lead on Saturday, but
could not sustain the momentum and was broken immediately. Garcia-Lopez picked
up another break later in the set, then broke for a 5-4 lead in the second and
served it out to reach his seventh career final.
Garcia-Lopez is 3-3 all-time in title matches, winning his lone final last
year against Granollers in Casablanca. He won’t get a rematch.
Seppi battled through the first-set tiebreaker against Granollers, then
dominated the second set en route to his seventh career final. He, too, is 3-3
in title matches, but will play in a championship match for the first time
since 2012.
The 30-year-old Seppi, who beat Roger Federer in the third round at the
Australian Open last month, reached four finals three years ago, including a
win in his last title match at the Kremlin Cup.
Garcia-Lopez hasn’t beaten Seppi in four all-time meetings, but the two
haven’t met since 2012 in Doha.
The 2015 Zagreb champ will collect $90,000.