Cilic Surges Into Zagreb Final

(February 6. 2010) Marin Cilic continued his season-long surge in reaching his second final in three tournaments this year.

The top-seeded Croatian topped third-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer, 7-6(5), 6-4, to reach his second straight PBZ Zagreb Indoors finals in Zagreb, Croatia today. Cilic raised his record to 14-1 on the season with his lone loss coming to Andy Murray in the Australian Open semifinals.

"It was a tough match," said Cilic. "I struggled with my serve in the first set and conceded a break at 3-3. But luckily I managed to break back immediately and then got more relaxed as the match went on."

The 10th-ranked Cilic, who has not surrendered a set this week, plays unseeded Michael Berrer for the first time in Sunday's final.

In an all-German semifinal, Berrer beat 84th-ranked Philipp Petzschner 7-6(6), 7-5.

The 65th-ranked Berrer was a quarterfinalist in Chennai last month and knows he faces a tough test against Cilic and the Croatian crowd on Sunday.

"Cilic is a great player and he will have the crowd on his side but I'll try to put on my best performance tomorrow," Berrer said.