Almagro, Chela into finals of Copa Claro

Nicolas Almagro of Spain and Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina advanced to the final of the Copa Claro clay-court tournament after each won two matches in a marathon day of tennis on Saturday.

Top-seeded Almagro defeated countryman Tommy Robredo 7-5, 6-1 and No. 8 seed Chela beat Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals, hours after both won their quarterfinal matches.

Rain washed out play at the tournament on Friday, forcing organizers to schedule the quarterfinals and semifinals on the same day.

It will be Almagro's second final in as many weeks after winning the Brazil Open last week - also on clay.

"It's a special day to win two tough matches in a row," said Almagro, who improved to 3-0 in matches against Robredo.

In the quarterfinals, Almagro defeated Argentina's Jose Acasuso 7-5, 6-3, while Chela eliminated No. 4 seed Albert Montanes of Spain 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in a match that started on Friday.

Wawrinka, the second seed, defeated Juan Monaco of Argentina 7-5, 6-3 and Robredo, the sixth seed, beat Argentina's David Nalbandian 6-4, 6-4 in their quarterfinal matches earlier in the day.