Andy Murray, Fernando Verdasco Set for St. Pete Battle

Fernando Verdasco is appearing in his first ATP final of the year and his first since Kitzbuhel in 2005 (l. to Gaudio).

The Spaniard has a 1-2 lifetime in ATP finals, winning his maiden title in Valencia 2004 (d. Montanes) but falling in Acapulco of the same year (l. to Moya) and later in Kitzbuhel 2005 (l. to Gaudio). All three finals were on clay.

The World No. 30 is a two-time semifinalist in 2007, losing in Kitzbuhel (l. to Monaco) and more recently in Bangkok (l. to Tursunov). Verdasco has also appeared in four quarterfinals, falling in the last eight in Las Vegas (l. to Safin), Stuttgart (l. to Chela), New Haven (l. to Blake) and Tokyo (l. to Berdych). He has recorded a 34-26 season.

The 23-year-old is now 7-1 in St. Petersburg, reaching the semifinals on his debut in 2005 (l. to T. Johansson) and defeating Werner Eschauer, Simone Bolelli, No. 4 seed Potito Starace and Croatian qualifier Marin Cilic en route to the 2007 final.

Andy Murray is contesting his fourth ATP final of the season. The Scot began the year, finishing runner-up in Doha (l. to Ljubicic) before claiming his second title at San Jose (d. Karlovic), and recently finishing runner-up in Metz (l. to Robredo).

The Briton has a 2-4 career record in finals. In addition to his final appearances this year, the 20-year-old finished runner-up in his maiden ATP final in Bangkok 2005 (l. to Federer) before claiming his maiden ATP title in San Jose 2006 (d. Hewitt). Later that year he finished runner-up in Washington (l. to Clement).

Success in the early part of 2007, including his second ATP title in San Jose and back-to-back appearances in AMS events in Indian Wells and Miami (l. to Djokovic both times), saw Murray break the Top 10 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings for the first time – reaching a career high of No. 8 (June 18, 2006). However, a wrist injury suffered at AMS Hamburg stopped Murray in his tracks and kept him away from the court for three months. Since his comeback at AMS Canada, Murray reached the final in Metz and the third round at AMS Madrid (l. to Nadal).

Making his debut in St. Petersburg, Murray now has a 4-0 record. He has defeated Max Mirnyi, Lukas Dlouhy, No. 5 seed Dmitry Tursunov and No.3 seed en route to the final.

Should Murray win the final, he will move into 11th place in the ATP 2007 Race. Currently in 15th place with 311 points, Murray will gain 15 more points if he wins the tournament, which will put him within three points of Tommy Haas in eighth place. (ATP Digital Services)