Mikhail Youzhny takes on Lukas Lacko in the final of the Zagreb Indoors on Sunday.
Anyone who can bagel Rafael Nadal clearly has an abundance of talent and Slovakia's Lukas Lacko appears to be finally taking steps towards fulfilling his potential as he's into his first career final in Zagreb.
The start of the European indoor swing, the Zagreb Indoors has a history of surprise champions from Sergiy Stakhovsky a few years ago to Ivan Dodig last year. And Lacko has every chance of joining those guys on the roster of champions after an impressive week which has seen him defeat second seed Alex Bogomolov Jnr and Mikhail Youzhny.
Lacko hit back from 4-1 down in the second set to take out 2007 champion Marcos Baghdatis 7-5, 7-6(3) in Saturday's semi-finals.
However he will have to beat Youzhny for the first time. The Russian beat him three times in 2010 - 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 6-1 in Dubai, 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 at the Madrid Masters and 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 at the French Open.
Although each match was close, Youzhny will feel he has a clear psychological advantage after coming up trumps each time.
Prediction: Youzhny in straight sets.
