Robin Soderling to meet Marin Cilic in Open 13 final

Top seed Robin Soderling will face Marin Cilic in the final of the ATP Open 13 in Marseille.

In Saturday’s semi-finals, Swedish world number four Soderling beat Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 7-5 6-1.

Unseeded Croatian Cilic saved a match point before beating third seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-2 1-6 7-5.

Soderling and Cilic have only played each other once before, with the Swede winning in straight sets at last year’s French Open.

The win over unseeded Tursunov continues an impressive start to the year for Soderling, who has won 16 out of his 17 games played, taking titles in Rotterdam and Brisbane.

He smashed 11 aces past his opponent who was let down at crucial moments by an unreliable serve.

A double fault from Tursunov sealed the first set for Soderling, and in the second game of the following set another double fault gave Soderling three chances for an early break.

It was really amazing that I came back and that I had a chance to win

Marin Cilic

Despite hitting aces on the next two points, a long rally ended when Tursunov fluffed a backhand into the net to go a break down at 2-0.

“I perhaps lacked a bit of aggression in the first set,” said Soderling.

“I’ve already played a final here in 2004 when I lost to Dominik Hrbaty but generally I have such good memories of France.”

In the earlier semi-final, Cilic set the tone early from the start by breaking Youzhny in the first game.

The Russian could have broken back at 3-2 had Cilic not saved the game with an ace. He went on to take the set without dropping another match.

In contrast, a revived Youzhny dominated the second set, landing 80% of his first serves.

Marin Cilic hits a return in his match against Mikhail Youzhny
Marin Cilic defended a match point on his way to the final

Cilic suffered the effect of 11 unforced errors as Youzhny won five straight games to level the match.

The Russian could have clinched it when a double-fault gifted Youzhny with a match point at 5-3, but Cilic responded emphatically with an ace.

That proved to be the turning point as Cilic brought the game back to 5-5 when Youzhny netted a backhand.

Cilic when on to clinch victory courtesy of a wayward forehand from his opponent.

“It was really amazing that I came back and that I had a chance to win,” he said. “From the beginning of the second set until 4-2 in the third, he was playing extremely well.

“He was almost making two aces per game. He was making me work a lot.”

Sunday’s final will be Cilic’s first since the BMW Open last May in Munich.

In the ATP event in Memphis, American top seed Andy Roddick reached the final with a 6-3 6-4 win over fellow former US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina.

He will face 20-year-old Canadian wildcard Milos Raonic, who hit 23 aces on his way to a 6-4 4-6 6-3 victory over US fourth seed Mardy Fish.