Bastad - David
Ferrer is within sight of his first ATP title in more than 18 months
after booking his place in the Swedish Open final.
The Spaniard's last victory came at the Vienna Open in October of 2015, one of five titles he bagged that year.
It's been lean times for the talented clay-court specialist ever since, but on Saturday he defeated countryman Fernando Verdasco 6-1, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4 to book his place in Sunday's final in Bastad.
Awaiting him in the final is Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, after he made light work of Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-2 in the day's other semi-final.
"We had a lot of tight games and he had a number of chances on my serve, but I kept it tight and ran away with it in the second set," said Dolgopolov.
Dolgopolov is gunning for his second title of the year, following his victory at the Argentina Open in February.
On Friday, Ferrer and Dolgopolov both saved two match points in their respective quarter-final victories over Henri Laaksonen and Karen Khachanov.
Results from the ATP tournament in Bastad on Saturday (x denotes seeding):
Semi-finals
Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) bt Andrey Kuznetsov (RUS) 6-3, 6-2
David Ferrer (ESP x8) bt Fernando Verdasco (ESP x6) 6-1, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4