Marin Cilic Beats Youzhny, Faces Haas In Semi

Written by: Staff on 4th May 2012

Marin Cilic Beats Youzhny, Faces Haas In Semi

Marin Cilic of Croatia returns the ball to Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia during their final match at the St. Petersburg Open ATP tennis tournament in St.Petersburg, Russia, 30 October 2011. EPA/ANATOLY MALTSEV |

(Original Story: http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2012/05/18/Munich-Friday-Cilic-Beats-Youzhny.aspx)

In a re-match of the 2010 BMW Open final, Marin Cilic avenged defeat to Mikhail Youzhny as he beat the Russian 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 on Friday to reach the semi-finals in Munich. Youzhny saved a match point in the tie-break and led by an early break in the decider, but Cilic rallied with two service breaks to prevail in two hours and 45 minutes.

“We always have tough matches. I would say the level of tennis was high,” Cilic told ATPWorldTour.com. “In the second set, Misha was playing unbelievable. He saved a match point with an amazing backhand down the line. What I was happy about today was that I kept my level going. Even though I lost my serve at the beginning of the third set, I got the momentum back and I think that was really crucial.”

The third-seeded Cilic improved to a 12-4 record at the ATP World Tour 250 clay-court tournament, where he has never failed to reach at least the quarter-finals in five visits. The Croatian had only won three matches this season coming into the event and is through to his first semi-final since winning his sixth title in St. Petersburg last October (d. Tipsarevic).

Cilic goes onto face home favourite Tommy Haas, who continued his impressive run with a 6-1, 7-6(3) victory over eighth-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis. The 34-year-old German had ousted top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round, and backed it up as he converted both his break point chances and saved a set point late in the second set before prevailing in the tie-break.

Former World No. 2 Haas has dropped to No. 134 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings after a succession of injury woes and is through to his first ATP World Tour semi-final since July 2009, when he reached the last four in Los Angeles (l. to Querrey). The right-hander was runner-up in Munich in 2000 (l. to Squillari).

Fourth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber advanced to his third semi-final of the year, defeating qualifier Marinko Matosevic 6-0, 7-6(5). Kohlschreiber, the 2007 titlist, won 70 per cent of his service points, dropping serve just once to get past the Delray Beach runner-up in one hour and 37 minutes.

Kohlschreiber is bidding to win his first title since triumphing at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle last year (d. Petzschner). He awaits the winner of second seed Feliciano Lopez and No. 5 seed Bernard Tomic.

Topics: 10sballs.com, BMW Open, Marin Cilic, Mikhail Youzhny, Sports, Tennis News, Tommy Haas