Ferrero reaches third straight final as Monaco retires in Mexico; Hercog makes her first

Ferrero reaches third straight ATP final

ACAPULCO, Mexico — Juan Carlos Ferrero made it to his third straight tour final when Juan Monaco retired from their Mexican Open semifinal on Friday.

Monaco was leading the opening set 5-4 when he took an injury timeout to treat an injury to the left side of his ribcage. The Argentine player returned to the court and lost the next three games, handing the set to the Spanaird 7-5, and then retired.

Ferrero has won the past two ATP events on the Latin American swing — in Argentina and Brazil — and is seeking his 15th ATP title.

“The streak I am on is really unexpected,” Ferrero said. “The way tennis is right now it’s very difficult to put together this kind of streak. I’m happy with the wins I am having.”

Monaco said he felt the pain when he was leading 3-1 and it got worse, forcing him to seek treatment.

He described it as a rib injury and said it might keep him out of Argentina’s Davis Cup match at Sweden beginning March 3. He said he did know how he picked up the injury and he said he’d never had a similar type of injury.

Argentina is already without injured David Nalbandian and Juan Martin del Potro.

“I was playing very well and had a good chance to win the match,” Monaco said. “It’s a shock. The impact is tough for me. Surely I’ll miss the Davis Cup.”

In the women’s draw, eighth-seeded Polona Hercog of Slovenia reached her first WTA final by defeating Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-3, 7-5.

The 19-year-old Hercog who was also playing in her first tour semifinals, hammered the ball into the stands after the match to celebrate.

“With every match I was playing better and today I felt really comfortable in the warmup,” Hercog said. “So I went on the court really confident.

“I had to be more aggressive than she (Suarez Navarro) was, and this really worked out for me. I’m really happy with the performance and to play my first WTA final.”

In the other women’s semifinal, top-seeded Venus Williams was scheduled to face Edina Gallovits of Romania later Friday. Williams has won 42 WTA titles, the most of any active player. The Romanian will be seeking her first WTA title.

In the other men’s semifinal, second-seeded Fernando Gonzalez was up against third-seeded David Ferrer. Top-seeded Fernando Verdasco lost to Monaco in the quarterfinals.