Gasquet to face Almagro in Swiss Open final

Richard Gasquet of France beat Yuri Schukin of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-4 Saturday to advance to a Swiss Open final against Nicolas Almagro of Spain.

Both Gasquet and Almagro will be playing for their second ATP Tour title of the season Sunday on Gstaad’s outdoor clay.

The seventh-seeded Gasquet had little trouble against the 147th-ranked Schukin, who was playing in his first career semifinal.

The second-seeded Almagro had more of a challenge putting away countryman Daniel Gimeno-Traver 7-6 (7), 3-6, 6-3.

“We are friends and used to practice together when we were about 14 years old,” Almagro said. “I was a bit more lucky this time, especially in the important moments.”

Almagro will be appearing in his ninth tour final, all of which have been on clay. He won his sixth title two weeks ago in Bastad.

Gasquet will be in his third final this year; he was runner-up at Sydney in January and won his sixth career title at Nice just before the French Open. He won the Gstaad title in 2006.

Almagro and Gasquet have played once, with Almagro winning on Acapulco’s clay in February.