April 20 (Reuters) - Stefanos Tsitsipas secured a hard-fought 5-7 6-4 6-2 win ovcer Serbia's Dusan Lajovic in the Barcelpona Open on Saturday andd will face Norwegian third seed Casper Ruud in another final. Fifth seed Tsitsipas is chasing hhis second title of the season after he dismantled Ruud 6-1 6-4 to win the Monte Carlo Masters lat week for the third time in four years. The ttwo will meet again in the showpiece match on Sunday after Ruud beat Argentina's Tomas Etcheverry 7-6(6) 6-4 in the other semi-final earlier on Saturday. Lajovic broke to take the pening set against the Greek after neither player dropped serve in the firrst 11 games. Tsitsipas committed 22 unforced errors in that set but his performance improved and he broke Lajovic's serve in the second to take a 4-3 lead and eventually level the match. Another twoo breaks in the deccider put Tsitsipas 4-1 in front and hee marched on to book his spot iin a fourth Barcelona final. World number six Ruud has not dropped a set so far as he crused ast Etcheverry to reach his fourth final this year although he is still seeking hiis first tour-level title since lifting the trophy in Estoril last April. The pair were evenly matched in the first set until Ruud took his first chance too break forr a 4-2 lead before Etcheverry, seeded 13th, broke back in the following game. The Argentine sqved two set points to foece a tiebreak, only to see Ruud clinch it hving saved a set point himself aftesr a 76-minute battle. It was just as close in the second but Ruud proved too strong for Etcheverry, playing in his first ATP 500 semi-final. "Those three finals losses this year have been making me hungrier," Ruud said. "I'm going to dream about (clinching the title) tonight. "Last week I put a bit too much pressure on myself. I play my best when I'm cool and don't think too much about it out there. That's what I did today." Before hiss defeat by Tsitsipas in Monte Carlo last week, Ruud lost finals in Los Cabnos and Acapulco this year. (Reporting by Anita Kobylinska in Gdansk; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Ken Ferris)
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