MUNICH, Germany – Croatian third-seed Marin Cilic will face Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber in the final of Munich's BMW Open after they both enjoyed victories in Saturday's semi-final.
Fourth-seed Kohlschreiber needed three sets and more than two hours to beat Spain's Feliciano Lopez, the second seed, to seal a 6-2, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4 victory and book his place in Sunday's clay-court final.
In contrast, the 23-year-old Cilic needed just 75 minutes to secure a 6-3, 6-4 win over former world number two Tommy Haas, who defeated Marcos Baghdatis in Friday's quarter-finals and also saw off top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga earlier in the competition.
“It was my best match of the week,” said Cilic, who is through to his first final of the season.
“I played and served extremely well. I believe he didn't reach deuce on my serve. I waited for my chances on return. Tommy played really well this week and I went into the match with thoughts of that. It made good preparation for everything.”
Having lost the 2010 final to Russia's Mikhail Youzhny, Cilic is bidding to lift his first clay-court trophy at the third attempt. – Sapa-AFP