Qualifier reaches AEGON International final

Frank Dancevic and Dmitry Tursunov will face each other in Saturday’s AEGON International final in Eastbourne.

Dancevic, who came through qualifying to book his place in the main draw, defeated experienced Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, the No.4 seed, 6-4 6-4.

“The wind effected my game a lot today and it was really difficult for both of us,” said Santoro, reflecting on his semi-final exit against the Canadian qualifier.

“Today we tried to play our best but it was very tough. Eastbourne has been a great preparation and I've played some good tennis throughout the week. Now I feel ready for Wimbledon."

Santoro, who is nicknamed the ‘magician’ by Pete Sampras, failed to capitalise on six break points while Dancevic decisively broke serve once in each set to seal victory.

“It’s a tough road to the finals, you know you’re going to have to beat some really good players to get there,” said Dancevic. “I’ve been taking it match by match since qualies and am really happy to have made it to the final.

“I played super aggressive today against Fabrice. It was a difficult match because of the way he plays and the wind but I went out thinking I’m going to go for everything and hit the ball as hard as I can.”

Ranked No.126 in the world, the 24 year-old from Niagara Falls will meet Dmitry Tursunov in the final after the Russian No.2 seed eased past Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2 6-2 in just over an hour.

“I’m pleased it was a quick match today, I’d had some longer matches at the start of the week so it was good to get this one done particularly as they weren’t the easiest conditions to play in,” said Tursunov.

“It will be a tough match tomorrow - this surface suits him because he likes to come into the net. The difference in ranking doesn’t matter, his results this week speak for the quality of his game.”

Tursunov, who has reached the fourth round at Wimbledon on two occasions, came through a tough second round battle on Wednesday against British No.2 Alex Bogdanovic having once trailed 3-5 in the final set tie-break.

Play will get under way in Eastbourne at midday on Saturday with the women's singles final up first, followed by the men's singles final and then the women's doubles final, Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs against Akgul Amanmuradova and Ai Sugiyama.

Pole position for Matkowski & Fyrstenberg

Polish doubles pair Marcin Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg won the doubles title on Friday, beating American Travis Parrott and Slovakian Filip Polasek 6-2 6-4.

The unseeded duo, who are both ranked inside the world’s top 15 doubles players, have now won nine ATP titles together and will be the No.6 seeds at The Championships when play gets under way next week.