Michael Stich (pictured) will meet Marcelo Rios in the final of the BlackRock Tour of Champions event in Barcelona on Sunday.
Stich, who scored an impressive win over Albert Costa a day earlier, dispatched Henri Leconte 6-3, 6-4 to book his place in the final.
Rios received a walkover against the injured Sergi Bruguera, but kept his eye in by beating current ATP world No.129 Alberto Martin 7-6 in an exhibition match.
“It’s going to be tough against Stich because he plays a totally different style to everyone else,” said Rios. “He’s an offensive player who will try to get into the net but it is on clay, which will help me.”
Stich plans to rely on the variety of shots that he used to subdue Costa on Friday.
“It’s nice to be in the final,” said Stich, who won Wimbledon in 1991.
“Against me, Marcelo is going to have a tough time to play the same shot two times in a row because I don’t plan to let him have any rhythm. He’s younger, and the better player on clay so he will be the favourite, but I think I’m going to give him a hard time.”
Yesterday, Stich had spoken of his desire to see Roger Federer employ the same variety of spins and paces against Rafael Nadal in the Monte Carlo final on Sunday that the German will use against Rios.
“It could work for Roger against Nadal,” said Stich.
“It didn’t work out for him the last couple of times the way he played Nadal in the French Open finals because he always started well with a lot of variety but then after the first set he let it go and thought he could beat Nadal from the baseline. That, I think, he can not do, not over the best of five sets. But, if he keeps up the variety he has a real chance because he has all the shots. You have to be open-minded enough to try it and the Monte Carlo final would be a good chance for him to try it out.”
In the day’s other matches, Cedric Pioline defeated Carl Uwe Steeb 6-1, 6-4. Pioline will play Costa in the 3rd/4th place play-off after Costa overcame Magnus Larsson 7-6, 6-4.
After Barcelona, the BlackRock Tour of Champions will move onto the Foro Italico in Rome over the weekend of the 10th and 11th May, and then the BlackRock Tennis Classic at the Rothenbaum Club in Hamburg, 14-18 May.
After that, Pete Sampras will make his long awaited debut on the BlackRock Tour of Champions in Sao Paulo, 21-24 May, 2008.
The Tour opened in Belfast in February with Anders Jarryd successfully defending his title.
