ACAPULCO, Mexico - Rafa Nadal advanced to the final of the Mexican Open early Saturday morning, beating fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 7-5, 6-4 in a clay-court slugfest. Second seed Nadal, who is on the comeback trail after missing seven months due to a knee injury, will face another Spaniard, three-time defending champion and top seed David Ferrer, in the final. Ferrer defeated Italy's Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-7, 6-1 earlier Friday. Almagro, the tournament's third seed and ranked 12th in the world, lost his serve just once in each set but that was enough for 11-times grand slam champion Nadal to secure a place in the final against Ferrer. Isner, Haas reach semis John Isner advanced to the semifinals by avenging a loss to defending champ Kevin Anderson at the ATP Tour's Delray Beach Tennis Championships Friday. Top seed Isner won in straight sets, beating South Africa's Anderson 6-2, 7-6 (7/1) in one of four quarterfinal matches that featured three formers winners. Isner moves to the semifinals where he will face France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin who cruised past Ricardas Berankis 6-4, 6-3. German second seed Tommy Haas outlasted Croatia's Ivan Dodig 7-6 (8/6), 2-6, 6-1 to reach the semifinals. Former champion Haas will next face Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis, who defeated Spanish qualifier Daniel Munoz 6-1, 6-4 in 75 minutes. The Delray Beach event is the final tuneup for next week's start of the ATP Masters Series tournament at Indian Wells, California. Puchkova stuns Venus World No. 109 Olga Puchkova of Russia battled back to beat top-seeded American star Venus Williams 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 Friday to reach the final of Brasil Cup. The 25-year-old Puchkova, a runner-up in Kolkata and Quebec City in 2006, will face Romania's Monica Niculescu in Saturday's final. Niculescu defeated French seventh-seeded Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic 6-0, 6-2 in her semifinal. Mattek-Sands, Pliskova in final Wild card Bethanie Mattek-Sands beat third-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-4, 6-1 at the Malaysian Open to reach her first WTA singles final in two years. Mattek-Sands will meet Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the final. The 127th-ranked Pliskova needed only 46 minutes to defeat fourth-seeded Ayumi Morita 6-0, 6-2 of Japan to reach her first WTA final. — Agencies
