Sergiy Stakhovsky beats Simone Bolelli to reach Zagreb Indoors final

Top-seeded Ivan Ljubicic needed seven match points on Friday to beat fellow Croatian Mario Ancic 7-6 (2), 6-4 and reach his third consecutive Zagreb Indoors final.

In the other semifinal, 209th-ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine defeated Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-4, 6-4 to became the first lucky loser from qualifying to make an ATP final since Sweden’s Nicklas Kulti in 1999.

Stakhovsky made the main draw after Michael Llodra, last week’s Rotterdam winner, withdrew.

“It’s like a dream,” said Stakhovsky, who will play in his first final, adding he will send a text message to Llodra to thank him for withdrawing.

Ljubicic, the 2006 champion, went game for game with Ancic until the tiebreaker, when Ljubicic swept to 5-0 and won it 7-2.

The 25th-ranked Ljubicic will be playing for his ninth career title.

Stakhovsky did not face a break point against Bolelli and conceded only a dozen points on serve. This week he’s beaten No. 2-seeded Ivo Karlovic and No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic.

The last time a lucky loser won an ATP title was in 1991, when Christian Miniussi of Argentina won at Sao Paulo.