GSTAAD, Switzerland, July 13 (UPI) -- Gaston Gaudio of Argentina continued his stunning claycourt run Saturday at the Swiss Open.
Gaudio, the seventh seed, rallied from a set and a break down to beat Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), in two hours, 23 minutes and advance to the final.
"I was a little bit lucky," Gaudio said. "I wasn't playing so well in the beginning. I don't know how I turned it around. In the third set, I played a little bit better and then I played an unbelievable tiebreak."
The winner of titles at Barcelona and Mallorca in back-to-back weeks, Gaudio will face Alex Corretja of Spain in the final. Corretja waited out a rain delay and easily got past Czech qualifier Radek Stepanek, 7-5, 6-1.
Entering the year without an ATP crown to his name, Gaudio has won 20 of his past 22 matches on clay, collecting two trophies in Spain along the way.
"For me it's been a great year," Gaudio said. "I think the big change is my coach, Martin Jaite. We started to work in Barcelona and I won that tournament. He brings me confidence and I feel comfortable outside the court as well, which is really important. We are really good friends. He won Gstaad and I want to win here, too."
Corretja, who reached his first final this year, has yet to drop a set at Gstaad.
"I really wanted to get to the final," Corretja said. "It was tough to hang around in the player lounge waiting (for the rain to stop). I'm happy to see that I'm back in top form. I feel great here, I really like coming here."
Corretja won the title here in 1998 and 2000.
Stepanek, who reached the third round this year at Wimbledon, stumbled in his second semifinal of the year. He also lost to Rainer Schuettler of Germany in the semifinals at Munich.
