Vienna Saturday Preview

© Getty ImagesMarin Cilic took a wild card into the tournament.

No. 7 seed Jurgen Melzer looks to become the first Austrian to reach the final at the Bank Austria Tennis Trophy since 1995 as he takes on unseeded Serb Janko Tipsarevic in the first semi-final on Saturday. Tipsarevic, who won the previous meeting earlier this year in March, is trying to reach his second straight ATP World Tour final after a runner-up in Moscow last Sunday. In the second semi-final, top seed and wild card entry Marin Cilic of Croatia takes on No. 4 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany. Kohlschreiber has won three of the past four meetings. Three of the semi-finalists (except Tipsarevic) have yet to drop a set this week.  Cilic, a two-time winner this season, is the only remaining player with an ATP World Tour title in 2009.

SATURDAY SEMI-FINAL HEAD-TO-HEADS – In Order of Play

Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) vs (7) Jurgen Melzer (AUT) Tipsarevic Leads 1-0
09 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami  Hard R64 Janko Tipsarevic 6-4 6-3

Tipsarevic FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
F: Moscow (l Youzhny); QF: Chennai (l Cilic); Eastbourne (l Garcia-Lopez); Metz (l Monfils)
YTD W-L: 29-23
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: June 22, 1984
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 46

• Tipsarevic, 25, defeated No. 8 seeded American John Isner 76(4) 64 in the first round, German Michael Berrer 76(3) 61 and No. 3 seed/last year’s finalist Gael Monfils 64 67(8) 63 to reach his second straight ATP World Tour semi-final or better…Last Sunday he reached his maiden ATP World Tour final in 105th career tournament in Moscow where he lost in three sets to Mikhail Youzhny
• The No. 3 Serb (behind No. 3 Djokovic, No. 31 Troicki) comes in with a 29-23 match record on the season (17-10 on hard)
• Last month in Metz, he retired in the quarter-finals due to an ankle injury against Frenchman Gael Monfils...Two weeks later, he captured the Mons Challenger title in Belgium without dropping a set (d. Stakhovsky in final)
• His previous best results this year were the quarter-finals came in the first week of action in Chennai where he lost to eventual champ Marin Cilic and in Eastbourne on grass in June (l. to Garcia-Lopez)
• In May, he helped his country to a title at the ATP World Tour Team Championship in Duesseldorf by winning three of four singles matches 
• In March, he reached the third round at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (l. to del Potro)
• In 2008, finished in the Top 50 for the first time at No. 49 with a 26-21 match record, highlighted by a fourth round showing at Wimbledon (d. No. 6 Roddick, l. to Schuettler) and third round at the Australian Open (l. to Federer 10-8 in fifth set)
• He reached a career-high No. 33 on May 12, 2008

Melzer FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
SF: Umag (l Davydenko); Bangkok (l Simon); QF: Kitzbühel (l Youzhny); Halle (l Djokovic); Båstad (l Vinciguerra); New Haven (l Verdasco)
YTD W-L: 34-29
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: May 22, 1981
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 35

• Melzer, 28, the top Austrian on the ATP World Tour, advanced to his third ATP World Tour semi-final of the season with a 62 62 win over No. 2 seed Radek Stepanek…He has not dropped a set this week and also defeated Marco Chiudinelli 76(4) 76(10) and qualifier Dominik Hrbaty 64 75…He is also in the doubles semi-finals (w/Knowle)
• He has a 14-9 career record in his hometown tournament and he’s appearing in the semi-finals for the first time…His previous best was the quarter-finals in 2002, ’06 and last year…The last Austrian to reach the final in Vienna was Thomas Muster in 1995 (l. to Dewulf) and last Austrian winner was Horst Skoff in 1988 (d. Muster in all-Austrian final)
• He’s trying to advance to his first ATP World Tour final since Kitzbuehel on July 20, 2008 (l. to del Potro)…He is 1-6 lifetime in ATP World Tour finals with his lone title coming in Bucharest in 2006 (d. Volandri)
• He comes in ranked No. 35 this week after reaching a career-high of No. 26 on the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings on May 18
• He enters with a 34-29 match record, including 17-17 on hard courts
• His best results on the ATP World Tour are the semi-finals in Bangkok earlier this month (l. to Simon) and in Umag on Aug. 1 when he lost to eventual champion Nikolay Davydenko
• He also reached the quarter-finals in Kitzbuehel and Bastad on clay, Eastbourne on grass (l. Djokovic) and New Haven on hard (l. to Verdasco)

(1-WC) Marin Cilic (CRO) vs (4) Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER)   Kohlschreiber Leads 3-1
07 Moscow (Russia) Hard R16 Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6(8)1-6  6-4
08 Auckland (New Zealand) Hard R16 Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3 6-7(5) 6-4
09 Munich (Germany) Clay R16 Marin Cilic 6-0 6-4
09 ATP Masters 1000 Madrid (Spain)  Clay R32 Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-1 6-7(5) 7-6(2)

Cilic FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
W: Chennai (d Devvarman); Zagreb (d Ancic); F: Beijing (l Djokovic); QF: Dubai (l Djokovic); Munich (l Chardy); US Open (l Del Potro)
YTD W-L: 43-18
YTD Titles: 2
Career Titles: 3
Date of Birth: September 28, 1988
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 13

• Cilic, 21, a wild card entry into the tournament, advanced to his fourth ATP World Tour semi-final or better this year with a 61 64 win over No. 6 seed and 2004 champion Feliciano Lopez…He also rolled to a 62 63 first round win over qualifier Alejandro Falla and followed with a 76(7) 64 victory over German Daniel Brands
• The young Croat is putting together the best season of his career with a 43-18 match record (30-10 on hard) and two ATP World Tour titles in three finals…He also has surpassed $1 million this season
• Just over two weeks ago he reached his third ATP World Tour final of the season in Beijing where he lost to then No. 4-ranked Novak Djokovic…He is 3-1 lifetime in ATP World Tour finals
• He reached a career-high No. 13 on May 18 and was there for seven straight weeks before returning to that spot two weeks ago after Beijing
• The top Croat on the ATP World Tour opened the campaign by earning the title in Chennai (d. Devvarman) in January and the following month he won the title in his hometown of Zagreb (d. Ancic)
• Last month he advanced to his first Grand Slam quarter-final at the US Open where he beat No. 2-ranked Andy Murray in the fourth round in straight sets (l. to eventual champ del Potro)

Kohlschreiber FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
F: Metz (l Monfils); SF: Halle (l Haas); QF: Doha (l Federer); Auckland (W/O vs Ferrer)
YTD W-L: 40-22
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 2
Date of Birth: October 16, 1983
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 24

• Kohlschreiber, 26, the No. 2 German (behind No. 17 Haas), is appearing in his third ATP World Tour semi-final (or better) of the season and the second straight in Vienna…Last year in his debut he lost to Gael Monfils…He has not dropped a set this week in posting wins over countryman Dieter Kindlmann 61 63, Victor Crivoi 62 3-0 (retired – shoulder) and No. 5 seed Nicolas Almagro 75 64
• He enters with a career-best 40-22 match record (most career wins in a year), including 20-12 on hard courts…He’s trying to reach his second ATP World Tour final this year and fifth of his career (2-2)
• One month ago he reached his fourth ATP World Tour final in Metz (l. to Monfils)…Afterwards, he reached a career-high No. 22 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings on Sept. 28
• In June in Halle, he lost to countryman and eventual champion Haas in the semi-finals, his previous best result…The previous tournament he reached a personal-best fourth round at Roland Garros where he beat No. 4 Djokovic in the third round before losing to No. 16 seed Tommy Robredo in four sets
• In May he helped his country to final of ATP World Team Championship in Duesseldorf (l. to Serbia), highlighted by a 67(3) 63 63 win over No. 9-ranked Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
• In March, rallied from a two-set deficit to beat Austria's Jurgen Melzer in five sets in the second rubber as Germany went on to win the first round Davis Cup tie…In quarter-final tie in Spain in July, beat No. 14 Robredo in second rubber and No. 9 Verdasco 8-6 in fifth set in fourth rubber but Germany fell 3-2

POTENTIAL FINAL HEAD-TO-HEADS

Marin Cilic (CRO) vs Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)   Cilic Leads 3-0
09 Chennai (India) Hard QF Marin Cilic 6-4 0-6 6-4
09 Australian Open (Australia) Hard R64 Marin Cilic 6-2 6-3 4-6 6-3
09 Dubai (U.A.E.) Hard R32 Marin Cilic 2-6 7-6(3) 6-4

Marin Cilic (CRO) vs Jurgen Melzer (AUT)   Cilic Leads 3-0
08 Australian Open (Australia) Hard R64 Marin Cilic 6-4  6-3 6-4
08 London / Queen's Club (Great Britain)Grass R64 Marin Cilic 7-6(2) 7-6(5)
08 New Haven (U.S.A.) Hard R16 Marin Cilic 5-7  6-4 7-5

Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) vs Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) Tipsarevic Leads 1-0
09 ATP World Team Chp. (Düsseldorf) Clay F Janko Tipsarevic 6-2 6-4

Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) vs Jurgen Melzer (AUT)  Kohlschreiber Leads 2-1
03 St. Poelten (Austria) Clay R32 Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4 0-6 6-2
05 New Haven (USA) Hard R32 Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4 6-1
09 GER vs. AUT WG 1st RD (Germany) Hard RR Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-7(4)4-6 6-4 6-3 6-3
Other Meetings:
02 Furth CH (Germany) Clay R16 Jurgen Melzer 6-2 6-3