Ivan Ljubicic reached his second final in two weeks on Saturday when he beat fifth-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo 7-6, 6-4 in Vienna.

The Croat's opponent in Sunday's final of the Vienna Trophy will be another Spaniard, Juan Carlos Ferrero, who overcame third-seeded Radek Stepanek 7-6, 6-3.

Fourth seed Ljubicic, who has now won 11 consecutive matches, looked weary at times but his greater firepower on his serve gave him the edge over an opponent who challenged strongly with lively running and a powerful backhand.

"I had difficulty moving on the court because of so much tennis in the last few weeks," said Ljubicic, who beat Gael Monfils to win his second career title in Metz last week.

"I didn't actually feel tired. I just felt my legs were a little bit heavy.

"When you come from a long week as I had in Metz you want to win in straight sets as much as you can, and I'm in the final without losing a set so it definitely helps me to recover."

At 5-5 in the opening set, Ljubicic held off four break points in a marathon game of 13 deuces, eventually holding on his 12th game point.

After edging the tiebreak 7-5, Ljubicic broke to lead 1-0 in the second set as Robredo netted a backhand. And he could have virtually tied up the match at 2-0, but he netted a weak backhand on break point.

Ljubicic held another break point at 3-1 but netted a forehand, and then had to hold off Robredo's stubborn challenge as the Spaniard held a break point to level at 3-3.

But Ljubicic continued to hold the upper hand, earning three match points on his opponent's serve at 5-3 before serving out the match.

VERY SATISFIED

Ferrero, who also reached the Barcelona final this year before losing to Rafael Nadal [Images], was very satisfied with his performance.

"I'm very happy," said Ferrero. "I think I'm playing very good tennis. It helped to practise last week indoors at my academy. It gave me a lot of rhythm and I came here playing good tennis, and now I'm in the final."

There was little to separate the two players throughout the match, which began with slow-paced baseline rallies as each searched for an opening.

The rallies eventually grew in intensity and Stepanek increasingly serve-volleyed to good effect, but Ferrero was solid at the back and dealt confidently with anything his Czech opponent offered.

There was only one break point opportunity for each player in the first set. Ferrero earned the first chance when leading 3-2 but Stepanek saved it with a second serve ace.

Then Stepanek earned a break point chance at 4-4, but he was stretched wide by Ferrero and netted a forehand.

The set then progressed to a tiebreak, which Ferrero dominated to win 7-3.

The second set was also evenly balanced, with Ferrero fighting off two break points and then breaking in the next game with a forehand return to lead 3-2.

Stepanek, who had looked agile and untroubled throughout the match, then called for the trainer at 4-3 and had his left leg stretched and massaged.

But the delay did not halt Ferrero's momentum, as the Spaniard held to love and then broke again with a backhand pass to claim victory on his second match point.

"It was very difficult because he serves very fast all the time and it's difficult to read," said Ferrero. "But anyway, I was returning a lot of points on his serve and finally I could make two breaks in the second set.

"The key was serving good all the time myself and trying to deal with his serve too. I'm 100 percent fit and feel very, very quick, and I arrived to all the dropshots that he did. I feel I'm flying on the court."

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