Melzer to face top seed Cilic in Vienna final
VIENNA, Oct 31 - Home favourite Juergen Melzer followed up his quarter-final win over second seed Radek Stepanek by beating Janko Tipsarevic 4-6 7-6 6-4 on Saturday to reach the Vienna Open final.
The Austrian now meets top seed and world number 13 Marin Cilic, a wildcard replacement for U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro who pulled out through injury.
The Croat reached his fourth ATP final of the season with a 6-4 7-6 win over German Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Melzer, ranked 35th in the world, became the first Austrian to reach the final since 1995 by overcoming Serb Tipsarevic in a two-and-a-half hour match.
The seventh seed fired 17 aces and saved three of four break points as he reached his first final since Kitzbuehel last year when he finished runner-up to Del Potro.
(Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne, editing by Tony Jimenez. To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index
