Almagro falters against Giraldo at Barclona and Sharapova on title path at Stuttgart

Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo beat Nicolas Almagro 7-5, 6-3 to reach the Barcelona Open final on Saturday, as his Spanish rival experienced a let-down after his win over top-ranked Rafael Nadal.

Giraldo will face fourth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japanon Sunday. Nishikori defeated Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-2, 6-4 in the other semi-final on the red outdoor clay.

Almagro slumped to his first loss in six meetings with Giraldo – a day after one of his biggest wins when he upset eight-time winner Nadal at the Real Club de Tenis.

“Yesterday’s game doesn’t serve as an excuse,” Almagro said. “Giraldo grazed perfection today, above all in the first set, and I couldn’t find the answer.”

The unseeded Giraldo will be playing for his first career title today after he saved six of seven break points and finished the match with an ace.

Giraldo prevailed in a match that featured several long rallies by proving more precise with his long groundstrokes.

The first set was heading for a tiebreaker until Giraldo snatched it away by breaking Almagro’s last service game when he swatted a forehand return by the feet of last year’s finalist.

Almagro got an early break in the second set, but Giraldo won it right back and took control as Almagro’s nerves frayed with the match slipping away.

“He believed more in his tennis, in how he had to play, and he barely made any mistakes,” Almagro said. “I committed errors when I could have gone in front. That was the key.”

Earlier, Nishikori’s faster movement overcame Gulbis’s big serve.

Down a set, ninth-seeded Gulbis saved seven break points in the second before finally ceding his serve and losing the match.

Nishikori will be seeking his second title of the season and fifth in his career.

On the WTA, defending champion Maria Sharapova moved to within one victory of her third straight Stuttgart title after a 6-1, 6-2 win over Italy’s Sara Errani at the Porsche Grand Prix.

Sharapova, who won the title in 2012 and 2013, needed just under an hour to see off clay-court specialist Errani in what was a repeat of the 2012 French Open final, which the Russian also won.

“It’s my first tournament on clay and at the start of the week, I set the goal of improving from match to match,” said Sharapova. “It went well for me again today.”

Sharapova, 27, raced into a 3-0 lead winning eight of the first 10 points and took the first set in just 27 minutes with some powerful ground strokes.

The Russian picked up where she left off in Friday’s 6-4, 6-3 quarter-final win over world No 3 Agnieszka Radwanska and converted six of her eight break points against Errani.

The 26-year-old Italian was never allowed to find her rhythm as Sharapova dominated the second set.

The Russian, who has never won a tournament three times running, will face Ana Ivanovic in the final.

The ninth seed defeated fifth-seeded Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 7-5 in an all-Serbian semi-final between two former world No 1 ranked players.

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