Carlos Moya of Spain and Andrei Pavel of Romania advanced to the final of the Croatia Open on Saturday.
Moya has a chance to win his fifth title at Umag after defeating Argentina's Guillermo Canas 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals. Pavel beat Serbian qualifier Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-3.
Moya won the tournament in 1996, 2001, 2002 and 2003 and has a 42-8 record in Umag.
`Special connection'
"Of course I hope to win again," said Moya, adding that he feels a "special connection" to the tourney.
Moya dominated the match from the start and gave up only one service break to put Canas up 1-0 in the second set.
"I gave my best, but I was not able to win," Canas said.
Pavel advanced to his first ATP Tour final since Poertschach, Austria, in May last year.
`Like a dream'
"It's like a dream right now," Pavel said.
He controlled the match against Troicki comfortably, making the most of his precise backhand and a good serve.
Troicki, playing in his first tour semifinal, had ousted top-seeded Novak Djokovic in the second round, but could not pull off another upset. Troicki broke Pavel's serve to level the second set at 1-1, but then lost the next four games.
The 21-year-old Troicki, ranked 176th, said he "physically could not take it anymore. I was tired."
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