Top-seeded Verdasco faces Andreev in Croatia Open final

UMAG, Croatia (AP) -Top-seeded Fernando Verdasco beat Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-1, 6-3 in less than an hour Saturday to advance to the final of the Croatia Open. Verdasco next plays fourth-seeded Igor Andreev of Russia, who beat Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina 6-2, 7-6 (2) in the other semifinal match. Verdasco dominated the seventh-seeded Fognini from the start with the Italian appearing tired after beating five-time defending champion Carlos Moya in the quarterfinals on Friday. Verdasco broke to lead 3-0 and quickly won the first set. Fognini recovered to lead the second set 3-1 but Verdasco broke back and won all the remaining games of the 59-minute match. After taking the first set 6-2, Andreev found the second much harder against the 101th-ranked Gonzalez. The Russian served for the match twice - at 5-4 and 6-5 - but was... [read full story]