VIENNA
The final four met on Day 6 at the Erste Bank Open. Top-seeds David Ferrer and Andy Murray continued their push for a spot at the ATP World Tour Finals on semi-final day in Vienna, meanwhile US Open champion Marin Cilic has claimed the fifth spot to make his debut in London this year.
Andy Murray took on Viktor Troicki in the opening match on Centre Court for the sixth time. The British world number 11 has never lost to the Serbian qualifier before and was in total control in Saturday’s encounter, lost his service only once in the fourth game of the opening set and eventually sealed victory in 82 minutes winning 6-4, 6-3 . Murray reached his only second final of the year after gaining the title in Shenzhen earlier this month.
Andy Murray
“Every day it’s getting better here. I start to get used to the conditions more. All of my last opponents were big servers, so it was not easy to find my rhythm but I managed to get through. Today, it went pretty well but Viktor had his chances in both sets,” Murray told afterwards. “I played well in Rome. I played well at the French Open as well as in Wimbledon with the exception of the match against Dimitrov. I played well at the US Open and in Canada, where I lost to Tsonga with a break up in the third set. I played some decent tennis in Asia and this week has also been good so far. The last three or four months were good,” Murray reflected his performance during the season. “Ferrer has been playing well for the last few weeks. He has got a lot of motivation because of London, so I expect a close match,” Murray is looking forward to his first final in Vienna. “Getting to thirty would be a nice number,” the Scot added concerning his chance to gain his 30th ATP career title. Murray has already been aware of facing Jürgen Melzer in his first round match at the Valencia Open 500 next week. “I played well against Jürgen in the past but we also had some close matches. Normally I have enjoyed playing against left handers throughout my career. My brother is a leftie, so when I grew up, I got used to the spin and the way the play. It has never been a huge issue to me playing against them. Jürgen, however, is a tricky opponent with an unorthodox style hitting a lot of drop shots and he changes the pace of the ball well,” Murray said.
Vienna’s top-seed David Ferrer had to fight hard finally overcoming Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 after exciting two hours and 26 minutes. The world number five fought back from being 2-4 down in the final set. “The tie-break in the third set was obviously the key today. I played aggressively and Philipp made more mistakes in the important moments. Step by step I’m getting used to the court here. The balls are very fast and difficult to control. I am still fighting to qualify for London, so it was an important victory for me,” a relieved Ferrer said afterwards. “Tonight I will only have a rest. Playing Andy is always difficult, as he is a very good player. It is irrelevant that I defeated him in Shanghai in our last match. This was outdoors, now we are indoors and I have to serve better than today,” the Spaniard added.
David Ferrer
Murray and Ferrer moved up one spot in the ATP Race to London next month. The Scot is now up to eight and the Spaniard is on ninth position. Tournament director Herwig Straka is more than happy presenting a “dream-final” to the spectators on Sunday. “Having the first and second seeds clashing each other in the final is great. It is very impressive, how both are playing throughout the week. Despite the nice weather here in Vienna, we hope for a lot of people coming to the Stadthalle tomorrow,” the Austrian said.
Queue in front of the ticket office at Vienna Stadthalle
