Ferrer to battle Youzhny for Valencia crown

Valencia, Spain (SportsNetwork.com) - Top seed and defending champion David Ferrer will meet Mikhail Youzhny in the final of the Valencia Open.

Ferrer of Spain continued his dominance over countryman Nicolas Almagro with a 6-2, 6-3 victory in Saturday's semifinals. He improved his all-time record against Almagro to 14-0.

The 31-year-old Ferrer, who was last week's runner-up in Stockholm, beat Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov in last year's Valencia finale. He advanced to the Valencia final for a record fifth time, where he will be seeking a fourth title after raising the trophy in 2008, 2010 and 2012.

Ferrer will be appearing in his eighth final of the year, having dropped five in a row since triumphing in Auckland and Buenos Aires.

Youzhny of Russia secured his spot in the title match with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over countryman Dmitry Tursunov. It was the first all-Russian semifinal on the ATP World Tour since their last meeting in the semis of St. Petersburg in 2010 as Youzhny won in three sets.

The 31-year-old Youzhny, who was the runner-up here in 2009, holds a 9-11 career mark in title matches, while Ferrer is 20-20 in finals.

Youzhny is 4-3 all-time against Ferrer, however they have only met once since 2009.

The 2013 Valencia winner will collect $490,000.