Federico Coria became the first member of his family to reach an ATP final in more than 15 years on Saturday, cruising past Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann in the semifinals of the ATP 250 clay-court event in Bastad, Sweden, 6-2, 6-1.
His big brother, 2004 Roland Garros finalist and former No. 3 Guillermo Coria, reached the last of his 20 career ATP finals at Beijing in September 2005, where he lost to then-No. 2 (and current No. 3) Rafael Nadal.
“I am very happy. It is my first final tomorrow,” Federico told ATPTour.com after his semifinal win. “I played the best tennis of my life today here in Bastad. It is amazing [here]. It is beautiful.”
The younger Coria has been steadily climbing the ATP rankings over the last few years, reaching his first ATP quarterfinal in Rio de Janeiro last year, then his first ATP semifinal in Cordoba this year (as well as another ATP quarterfinal in Belgrade earlier this year, where he fell to Novak Djokovic).
And it’s already a double milestone week for the Argentine, as he also scored the first Top 20 win of his career in the quarterfinals on Friday, taking out No. 18-ranked Cristian Garin.
In the final he’ll take on No. 16-ranked Casper Ruud, another ATP player with quite the family connection—his father, Christian Ruud, was a former Top 50 player in the 1990s.
The Bastad final will be the first meeting between a Ruud and a Coria.