Tennis: Ram reaches another final

Two weeks ago, Ram claimed his 14th career doubles title with Max Mirnyi in Vienna.

By ALLON SINAI
Andy Ram will be looking to claim his second title in three weeks on Sunday after advancing to the final of the Lyon Grand Prix on Saturday with interim partner Michael Llodra. The Israeli/French duo, which is seeded second in Lyon, defeated locals Thierry Ascione and Marc Gicquel 7-6 (4), 6-4 and will face Stephen Huss and Ross Hutchins on Sunday. Two weeks ago, Ram claimed his 14th career doubles title with Max Mirnyi in Vienna. In the singles tournament in Lyon, seventh-seeded Robin Soderling rallied to beat fourth-seeded Gilles Simon of France 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 Saturday and will play Julien Benneteau in Sunday's final. The Frenchman came back from 5-3 down in the first set to upset third-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (4), 7-5. Top-seeded Roger Federer beat Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-3, 6-2 Saturday to reach the final of the Swiss Indoors. Federer was never in trouble against the 39th-ranked Lopez and will seek a third straight Swiss Indoors title Sunday against 2002 champion David Nalbandian of Argentina. "I feel great and I'm playing better as the days go by," Federer said. "Tomorrow will come down to who gets off to the better start." The second-seeded Nalbandian beat Davis Cup teammate Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-4 in the other semifinal match. "Always, playing Roger is tough but it's good fun playing against him," said Nalbandian, who is 8-9 against Federer. Nalbandian and Federer carried their juniors rivalry into the pros with Nalbandian winning their first five meetings, including the semifinal at Basel in '02. The Argentine was also the last player to beat Federer at the US Open, in 2003, before the Swiss started his current five-year title streak at Flushing Meadows. "David is one of the best returners in the game," Federer said. "Today I had the upper hand and that could be different tomorrow." Nalbandian avenged his straight-set loss to Del Potro at the Madrid Masters last week. "I was the lucky one today, last week it was him," Nalbandian said. "I served almost perfect and I think that is why I won today." AP contributed to this report