Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia tops Arnaud Clement of France 6-2, 6-4 to reach Lyon Grand Prix final

Ljubicic reaches Lyon Grand Prix final

LYON, France — Ivan Ljubicic defeated Arnaud Clement 6-2, 6-4 Saturday to reach the final of the Lyon Grand Prix.

Ljubicic, seeded third and the 2001 Lyon champion, didn’t face a break point and won on his first match point when the Frenchman sent a forehand wide.

“My serve was not as good as the other days, but I felt pretty good on court,” Ljubicic said. “For me it was the perfect match.”

Ljubicic, a Croat and the only non-French player in the semifinals, will play for title Sunday against second-seeded Gilles Simon or wild card Michael Llodra. The winner of that match will assure a Frenchman in the final for the fifth year in a row.

Clement, who won the title in Lyon in 2000, looked tired after playing nearly three hours in Friday’s quarterfinal win over top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

“He was far better than me,” Clement said. “The score reflects the reality of this match. He played very well and I made more mistakes than yesterday.”