Cilic Saves Match Point To Set Soderling Final

© Getty ImagesRobin Soderling is chasing his third ATP World Tour title of the season.

World No. 28 Marin Cilic reached his ninth ATP World Tour final in dramatic fashion on Saturday as he saved one match point to defeat third seed Mikhail Youzhny 6-2, 1-6, 7-5 in the semi-finals of the Open 13, an ATP World Tour 250 indoor hard-court tennis tournament in Marseille.

After the first two sets were split with two breaks apiece, Youzhny was denied on a match point at 3-5 on Cilic’s serve in the third set, before squandering the chance to serve for victory in the following game. Cilic then took advantage of the shift in momentum by winning the final two games of the match to seal victory in just over two hours. It marked Cilic’s first victory in five attempts over the No. 11-ranked Youzhny.

“After winning the first set so comfortably, I knew if I could put my game back together and play in the right way as I did in the beginning that I had a good chance to come back,” said Cilic. “In the second set and the beginning of the third he was playing really good and it wasn’t easy to stay in there and wait for a chance. I had to make some kind of a change, which I did, and it was really good from my perspective that this win comes from a good fight and great mentality.”

The 22-year-old Cilic has returned to top form this week and is through to his first ATP World Tour final since May, when he finished runner-up to Youzhny in Munich. Since then, the Croatian had reached just four quarter-finals and one semi-final before his run this week.

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Cilic will look to win his sixth ATP World Tour title when he faces top seed Robin Soderling, who was pushed in the early stages by Russian Dmitry Tursunov before running away with a 7-5, 6-1 victory. From 5-5 in the first set, the Swede reeled off seven straight games before prevailing in 74 minutes.

“The first set was close; I wasn’t maybe aggressive enough in the beginning,” said Soderling. “But then in the second set I was a little bit more aggressive, started to play my own game, and then it was much better. Overall I think it was a good match."

Soderling takes a 1-0 career lead over Cilic into the final, having beaten the Croatian in straight sets on clay in the Roland Garros fourth round last year.

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Soderling is riding an eight-match winning streak after capturing his second ATP World Tour title of the season last week in Rotterdam (d. Tsonga) and is bidding to win three titles in a season for the first time in his career. He was also victorious in Brisbane (d. Roddick) in the first week of the season.

“It’s not too bad!” joked Soderling as he reflected on his stellar start to the season. “I won many matches and I beat a lot of good players. It feels really good and hopefully it can continue this way for a while.”

The 26-year-old Soderling is looking to go one better than in 2004, when he reached the final in Marseille but finished runner-up Dominik Hrbaty. Six of the Tibro native’s eight ATP World Tour titles have come indoors.