Robredo beats Wawrinka to reach Barcelona final

BARCELONA, Apr 29 (Reuters) Sixth seed Tommy Robredo beat unseeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4 6-4 today to reach the final of the Barcelona Open for the second time in three years.

The Spaniard, champion in 2004, wrapped up victory over the world number 67 in 87 minutes to reach his first final of the year and sixth in total.

After edging the first set, Robredo broke twice to lead 5-2 in the second but wasted four match points as Wawrinka hit back.

But Robredo made no mistake second time round, serving out to love to set up a final against either top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal or unseeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro.

Should Nadal reach the final he would take his claycourt winning streak to 46 matches, joint second in the open era with Bjorn Borg.

REUTERS DH PM1945