MADRID, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Russian Marat Safin was handed a stunning defeat from Spain's Nicolas Almagro as the latter advanced to the first ATP final of his career at the 400,000 US dollars Valencia tennis international tournament on Saturday.

    The 20-year-old came through 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 in the clay-court tournament against 26-year-old Safin who only made his comeback last month after six months out with a knee injury.

    It was the second win for Almagro over the Russian after beating him at the Rome Masters last year.

    And he got off to a strong start by breaking Safin in the third game of the first set as the Russian struggled with his serve.

    Safin fought back to take the second and the Spaniard profited from mistakes by the Russian in the third to take the tie on his first match point offered by a Safin double fault.

    Almagro next meets France's Gilles Simon who dashed home hopes of an all-Spanish final when he ousted seventh-seeded Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 7-6 (5).

    The 21-year-old Frenchman, ranked 86th, took advantage of a string of errors by his opponent who showed signs of nerves with seven double faults. Enditem