Studena Croatia Open Umag:

Four players will battle it out for spots in the final of the Studena Croatia Open Umag on Saturday.

First up on Centre Court is No. 8 seed Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina against Potito Starace of Italy. Chela upset top seed Davydenko and Starace sent No. 3 Ljubicic packing in the quarter-finals.  Although Starace leads Chela on clay, 2-1, Chela does lead the overall series, 3-2, and Chela has been far more successful at this stage of ATP World Tour events, reaching 10 career ATP World Tour finals (5-5 mark) while Starace has only been to two finals (0-2 ).

The second semi-final features No. 4 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero against Andreas Seppi, who leads the pair’s head-to-head, 2-1, but Ferrero’s win did come in their most recent meeting, and a very relevant one at that – in this very same match, the Umag semi-finals, one year ago. Ferrero also has a wealth of experience in the late stages of ATP World Tour events, being a former World No. 1 – he has reached 32 finals in his illustrious career (14-18 mark, including one Grand Slam title), while Seppi has been to one final (0-1).

Allianz Suisse Open:

One former Top 10 player and another who went as high as No. 11 on the ATP World Tour are featured in Saturday’s semi-finals at the Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad.

First up will be No. 2 seed Nicolas Almagro against Daniel Gimeno-Traver in a battle of Spaniards. They have split their previous two head-to-head meetings on the ATP World Tour, but Gimeno-Traver won the most recent clash in the first round of Buenos Aires in February. However, Almagro has really picked it up on clay courts since then, and comes into his match with a sparkling 26-11 season mark on the surface. Gimeno-Traver is 12-11 on clay this year.

The second semi-final pits No. 7 seed Richard Gasquet against qualifier Yuri Schukin. Gasquet has an excellent 10-1 record here, winning the title in 2006 as one of his two previous attempts. Schukin, ranked 100 spots below Gasquet at No. 147, is playing here for the first time. He ousted top Mikhail Youzhny in the quarter-finals. Gasquet and Schukin are playing for the first time. Gasquet is going for his 14th career final (6-7 mark) while Almagro goes for his ninth (6-2 record). Gimeno-Traver and Schukin are trying to reach their first ATP World Tour final.

Farmers Classic:

Three of the top four seeds are into the semi-finals of the Farmers Classic presented by Mercedes-Benz on Saturday as top seed and wild card entry Andy Murray of Scotland takes on No. 4 seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain and No. 2/defending champion Sam Querrey meets No. 6 Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia.

Of the remaining players, Querrey (three times) and Lopez (once) have won titles on the ATP World Tour this season. Murray and Tipsarevic have turned in one runner-up showing.

In the opening match, Querrey takes on Tipsarevic for the second time. In their previous meeting in the first round of Indianapolis in 2006, Querrey prevailed in three sets. Tipsarevic is trying to reach his second ATP World Tour final of the season and third in his career (0-2). Querrey is 3-1 in ATP World Tour finals this year and he’s the only player to win titles on three different surfaces in 2010. Overall, the 22-year-old American is 5-5 in his career in ATP World Tour finals.

In the evening semifinal, Murray brings a 2-0 mark against Lopez. The 23-year-old Scot reached his lone final this year at the Australian Open (l. to Federer) in January while Lopez won his second career ATP World Tour title in Johannesburg (d. Robert) in February.