By The Associated Press

VALENCIA, Spain - Top-seeded Andy Murray held off fourth-seeded Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 in semifinal play at the Valencia Open on Saturday.

Murray will take on Mikhail Youzhny in Sunday's final. The unseeded Youzhny defeated second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in an all-Russian semifinal.

Murray, coming off a six-week layoff because of an injured wrist, will be going for his fifth title of the season.

Youzhny has advanced to the finals in three of his last four tournaments. He was runner-up at the Japan Open, and won his hometown title at the Kremlin Cup.

"He's played very well the last couple of months," said Murray, who won their only prior meeting at St. Petersburg in 2007. "It's going to be difficult, he played well today."

Murray struggled with his serve but took advantage of Verdasco's own shaky service game to break for a 4-3 lead in the first set and held on.

Verdasco, the 2004 champion, started the second set with a break of his own in the first game. He later evened the match at a set apiece when Murray double-faulted.

In the deciding set, Murray made the decisive break for 4-2 against the Spaniard and advanced to his seventh final of the season.

"I managed to stay strong because he hit some really big winners, and put some pressure on me," said the fourth-ranked Murray.

Davydenko led Youzhny by a set and 4-4 but lost the next two games to be forced into a third set.

The 23rd-ranked Youzhny broke Davydenko's first two service games in the decider and went on to clinch his fifth final appearance of the season.

Davydenko, ranked No. 7, could have clinched a berth in the eight-man ATP Tour finals in London this month by winning the tournament. He was confident he will still qualify during the Paris Masters next week.