Spanish Davis Cup hero Fernando Verdasco has won through to the inaugural Brisbane International men’s final.
The third seed was too powerful for out-of-sorts Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, taking out their semifinal 6-2 6-1 in just over an hour at Pat Rafter Arena.
World No.15 Verdasco won an impressive six straight games on his way to closing out the first set and jumping to a 5-0 lead in the second.
He may still be hailed in his native Spain as the man who won the Davis Cup final-clinching singles tie against Argentina last year, but Verdasco is still largely known for being tennis glamour girl Ana Ivanovic’s boyfriend.
However, Verdasco is quickly making a name for himself Down Under after extending his unbeaten run over world No.31 Mathieu to 5-0 to reach the eighth ATP final of his career – but first on hard court.
The left-hander will meet the winner of Saturday’s other semifinal between Czech Radek Stepanek, the eighth-seed, and Frenchman Richard Gasquet.
Seventh seed Gasquet upset compatriot and 2008 Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals on Friday night.
Verdasco had every right to be distracted ahead of his semifinal clash.
His partner Ivanovic had already left for Melbourne to prepare for the Australian Open after bowing out of the Brisbane event in the quarterfinals and suffering a stomach bug.
But it was business as usual for Verdasco on court on Saturday.
His only complaint would have been the way he tightened up as he served, firstly for the first set, and later for the match.
Serving for the first up 5-1, Verdasco dropped his guard and was broken by Mathieu.
And when Verdasco served for the match, again up 5-1, Mathieu again showed French resistance by saving two match points and hitting back to have two break points before the Spaniard finally prevailed.
Verdasco is the only men’s player remaining in both the singles and doubles action at Brisbane.
He combines with German Mischa Zverev to take on Aussies Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione in the doubles semifinals later on today.
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