Nadal, Troicki to contest grass-court Mercedes Cup final
STUTTGART, Germany (AP) Top-seeded Rafael Nadal will play Viktor Troicki of Serbia in the final of the grass-court Mercedes Cup.
Nadal defeated Gael Monfils of France 6-3, 6-4 Saturday before Troicki overcame the second-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia 6-3, 6-7 (1), 7-6.
The eighth-seeded Troicki fired 19 aces compared to Cilic's 13 and needed 2 hours, 22 minutes to prevail.
Earlier, Nadal saved all four break points he faced and converted two of his own to beat the fourth-seeded Monfils. Monfils lost despite serving 11 aces compared to none from Nadal.
The 14-time Grand Slam winner, who was made to work hard against Bernard Tomic and Marcos Baghdatis in the previous rounds, said it was his ''best match so far. I am very pleased with my performance.''
Nadal has a 4-0 head-to-head advantage over the 28th-ranked Troicki.
The Spaniard is looking for his third title at the tournament after victories in 2005 and 2007 when it was still on clay. It made the switch to grass this year.
