Vienna - Marin Cilic reached his second ATP final in four weeks Saturday, defeating German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) square off with home hero Jurgen Melzer for the title at the Bank Austria Trophy. Melzer followed in the footsteps of Thomas Muster, becoming the first home player since the still-popular local legend in 1995 to reach the title match with with fighting comeback 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 over Janko Tipsarevic.
Melzer, seeded seventh, denied the Serb the chance at a second consecutive final after a loss to Mikhail Youzhny last weekend in Moscow.
Melzer has played a final per year for the last five years, but has come good only once, on clay in Bucharest in 2006. He now owns a hat-trick of Austrian trophy matches after Kitzbuehel 2008 and St Poelten in 2005.
"It's about time for me to win another final," said the winner, who credited a second-set tiebreak with lifting his game as he brought the set level at one each with an ace.
"I didn't have the best start but winning the tiebreaker really helped my confidence for the third set," said Melzer. "In the third was feeling really good with my game.
"I really wanted to give all I could to win."
Cilic is still in the sprint for one of two spots left in November's season-final in London. Though even a Vienna title will not help him due to the vagaries of the ranking system, he's counting on gaining a healthy dose of momentum for the last two weeks of the regular season.
"This week gives me confidence," said the Beijing finalist against Novak Djokovic three weeks ago. "I have played well and taken every match seriously.
"I have kept my level high and I'm looking forward to this final. I'm 800 ranking points behind Fernando Verdasco, so I have to really make the next two weeks count.
"But I'm still in for this week and I will do my best to win. Melzer will feel the home pressure like I did in Zagreb," said the winner of that Croatian event this season.
Cilic fired 12 aces as he went through in just over 90 minutes.
Vienna-born left-hander Melzer denied Tipsarevic as the Serb tried to rally trailing 0-30 in the seventh game of the final set. But Melzer got the break and took the 4-3 lead which saw him through to victory.
Melzer, 35-29 in a busy season, has played three semi-finals in 2009, including Umag and Bangkok. He has moved through with the loss of just one set this week.
