Verdasco To Meet Del Potro In Final

© JLSWorld No. 15 Fernando Verdasco has a 5-9 record in ATP World Tour finals.

Second seed Fernando Verdasco will meet eighth seed Juan Martin del Potro in the Estoril Open final on Sunday. The pair has met on two previous occasions, most recently in February's San Jose semi-finals that Verdasco won 6-4, 6-4.

"It will be a very hard match," said Verdasco. "He is playing well and he is a great player. He is in the final because he deserves it. He beat [Robin] Soderling in the quarter-finals. Every match against Juan Martin is very hard, difficult. I will try my best to play my best tennis. I think it will be a good final."

Match Report: Del Potro Eyes Ninth Title

Verdasco will be hoping to capture his sixth ATP World Tour title, having played two matches on Saturday.

The 27-year-old Spaniard beat seventh seed Kevin Anderson 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-3 in a rain-interrupted quarter-final carried over from Friday evening.

A few hours later, Verdasco was back on court. He had won the first set 6-4 against fifth seed Milos Raonic when the Canadian retired due to a back injury after 42 minutes of play.

Raonic saved one set point at 4-5, 30/40, but hit a forehand long on Verdasco's second set point minutes later. Verdasco had dropped just six points on serve.

"I lost twice against him [Raonic] in close matches," said Verdasco. "I just played one set against him today, but I played well. Including the two sets [against Anderson] earlier. I am lucky to be in the final. I have been playing better and better during this week. I hope to play better in the final tomorrow and try to win this tournament."

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"I felt a bit of pain this morning," said Raonic. "It started off as a small pain and got gradually worse and worse.

"I've been playing so well this year, that I wanted to keep winning and playing as much as possible. But I had to sit down and look at it from a mature stand point and see what was a career-wise decision. I didn't want to push it too much because I didn't know what will come of it. It's a long year and I just wanted to make a smart call.

"I will try and get my back as healthy as possible. It is tightness that is building up, so I will try and do as much therapy as I can. I will try to heal up as quick as possible."