Bastad (Sweden) July 21 (IANS) Italian third seed Fabio Fognini of Italy reached the first Swedish Open final after defeating fifth seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-1 4-6 7-5 on Saturday.
Fognini the World No.15 needed only two hours and 17 minutes to earn his third win over Verdasco the World No.33 in their seventh career match reports Efe.
Verdasco rallied from a set down to draw level and again fought to come back from a 4-2 deficit in the decider only to lose the match a few games later.
In his 16th career final Fognini is scheduled to face either France s world No.29 Richard Gasquet or Switzerland s Henri Laaksonen world No.148 and is hunting for a seventh career title.

--IANS pur/vm