Juan Ignacio Chela faces Albert Montanes for a place in Saturday’s final at the Cup Kitzbuhel.
Top seed Chela is going for his second tour final of the season today. It’s been a bit of a rocky month for the Argentine. His success this year has elevated him towards the top of the seeding list at most of these smaller clay-court events but he’s struggled to take advantage, suffering a number of shock defeats.
However he’s rebounded well this week, seeing off Gstaad champion Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-4 in the quarter-finals.
It’s been a very poor season for Montanes who’s followed a breakthrough year in 2010 with some lousy performances. His 6-1, 7-6 quarter-final win over Santiago Giraldo was just his 20th of the year.
Chela leads 4-1 on the head-to-head, winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 when they met in the Bueno Aires quarters in February.
