Defending champion Marin Cilic continued his impressive run of form as he marched into the PBZ Zagreb Indoors final by defeating third seed Jurgen Melzer 7-6(5), 6-4 Saturday in the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour 250 indoor hard-court tennis tournament.

Victory for Cilic avenged the defeat he suffered to Melzer in the final of the Bank Austria TennisTrophy last October and took him to a 14-1 mark on the season so far. The Croatian opened the year by defending his title at the Aircel Chennai Open (d. Wawrinka) before reaching his first Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open (l. to Murray).

The new World No. 10 – a career-high position for Cilic in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings – went down a break at 3-4 in the first set against Melzer but immediately hit back to draw level and sealed the one-set lead in the subsequent tie-break. Cilic started strongly in the second set, breaking his Austrian opponent in the first game, and it proved to be enough for victory as he later served out the win to love after one hour and 49 minutes.

"Melzer was a really tough opponent, it took me a very long time to find the rhythm," admitted Cilic. "I was very often in tricky situations, 0/30 or 15/30, and it was not easy. Winning the first set was a big relief. And the second set was much, much better from my side. I would say that I served excellently in the second set."

The 21-year-old Cilic is through to his seventh ATP World Tour final (4-2 record) and will look to defend the title he claimed last year with victory over Mario Ancic in an all-Croatian final.

In the final, Cilic will face a first-time meeting with Michael Berrer, who defeated Philipp Petzschner 7-6(6), 7-5 in an all-German clash to reach his first ATP World Tour singles final.

The 29-year-old Berrer rallied from an early break deficit to win the first set on a tie-break, saving one set point at 5-6. He then broke serve in the 11th game of the second set before serving out victory after one hour and 46 minutes.

World No. 65 Berrer, who ousted the No. 5 (Tipsarevic) and No. 4 (Troicki) seeds en route to the semi-finals, improved to a 7-2 mark on the season. The left-hander reached the quarter-finals at the Aircel Chennai Open (l. to Wawrinka) in the first week of the season and is coming off a title win at the Heilbronn Challenger. 

"I'm pleased with the past couple of months," said Berrer. "I've been working well with my new coach Claudio Pistolesi, we are a good team. He taught me to play more aggressively.

"[Cilic is] the favourite. I'll try to give my best. He has the pressure, playing at home. I had the same situation at a lower level last week [in Heilbronn]."

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