Vienna Final Preview - Top Seed Cilic Takes On Austrian Melzer

Top seed and wild card entry Marin Cilic of Croatia attempts to capture his third ATP World Tour title of the season as he faces No. 7 seed and local resident Jurgen Melzer in the Bank Austria Tennis Trophy on Sunday. Cilic has not dropped a set en route to the final while Melzer has lost one. Cilic is looking to become the fourth wild card winner on the ATP World Tour this season while Melzer is trying to become the first Austrian winner in Vienna since Horst Skoff in 1988 (d. Muster). Melzer is the first Austrian to reach the Vienna final since Thomas Muster in 1995 (l. to Dewulf). Melzer is also in the doubles final with countryman Julian Knowle. Three players have won both titles in the same tournament this year.

WHAT’S AT STAKE –
      Singles Winner:      €86,500 and 250 South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking points
      Runner-up:             €45,950 and 150 South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking points
 
FINALS HISTORY –
      Cilic:                 Appearing in his 5th ATP World Tour final……….He is 3-1 in finals (2-1 in 2009)
      Melzer:             Appearing in his 8th ATP World Tour final……….He is 1-6 in finals (0-0 in 2009)

2009 ATP WORLD TOUR TITLE LEADERS – Cilic is trying to become the eighth player on the ATP World Tour this year to win at least three titles
                                     No.
Rafael Nadal                  5
Andy Murray                  5
Nikolay Davydenko        4
Roger Federer               4
Juan Martin del Potro     3
Novak Djokovic              3
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga          3
Cilic one of four with       2

CHAMPIONSHIP HEAD-TO-HEADS –

(1-WC) Marin Cilic (CRO) vs (7) Jurgen Melzer (AUT) Cilic Leads 3-0
08 Australian Open (Australia) Hard R64 Marin Cilic 6-4  6-3 6-4
08 London / Queen's Club (Great Britain)Grass R64 Marin Cilic 7-6(2) 7-6(5)
08 New Haven (U.S.A.) Hard R16 Marin Cilic 5-7  6-4 7-5

Cilic FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
W: Chennai (d Devvarman); Zagreb (d Ancic); F: Beijing (l Djokovic); QF: Dubai (l Djokovic); Munich (l Chardy); US Open (l Del Potro)
YTD W-L: 44-18
YTD Titles: 2
Career Titles: 3
Date of Birth: September 28, 1988
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 13

• Cilic, 21, a wild card entry, advanced to his fourth ATP World Tour final this year with a 64 76(4) win over No. 4 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber…He also posted a 61 64 quarter-final win over No. 6 seed and 2004 winner Feliciano Lopez…In the second round he beat Daniel Brands 76(7) 64 and rolled to a 62 63 first round win over Alejandro Falla…He has held serve 36 of 39 games while breaking opponents a tournament-high 12 times…He has fired 34 aces, third-most behind Melzer (40) and Almagro (37)
• Countryman Ivan Ljubicic, who is in the Lyon final on Sunday, is the last Croat to win the Vienna title in 2006-07
• The young Croat is putting together the best season of his career with a 44-18 match record (31-10 on hard) and two ATP World Tour titles in three finals…He also has surpassed $1 million this season
• Just over two weeks ago he reached his third ATP World Tour final of the season in Beijing where he lost to then No. 4-ranked Novak Djokovic…He is 3-1 lifetime in ATP World Tour finals
• He reached a career-high No. 13 on May 18 and was there for seven straight weeks before returning to that spot two weeks ago after Beijing
• The top Croat on the ATP World Tour opened the campaign by earning the title in Chennai (d. Devvarman) in January and the following month he won the title in his hometown of Zagreb (d. Ancic)
• Last month he advanced to his first Grand Slam quarter-final at the US Open where he beat No. 2-ranked Andy Murray in the fourth round in straight sets (l. to eventual champ del Potro)

Melzer FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
SF: Umag (l Davydenko); Bangkok (l Simon); QF: Kitzbühel (l Youzhny); Halle (l Djokovic); Båstad (l Vinciguerra); New Haven (l Verdasco)
YTD W-L: 35-29
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: May 22, 1981
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 35

• Melzer, 28, the top Austrian on the ATP World Tour, advanced to his first ATP World Tour final of the season with a 46 76(5) 64 win over Janko Tipsarevic…He also posted a 62 62 victory over No. 2 seed Radek Stepanek in the quarters, qualifier Dominik Hrbaty 64 75 in the second round and Marco Chiudinelli 76(4) 76(10) in the first round…Leads the tournament with 40 aces and has held serve 44 of 47 games (saving 12 of 15 break points)
• He has a 15-9 career record in his hometown tournament and he’s appearing in the final for the first time…His previous best was the quarter-finals in 2002, ’06 and last year…He is the first Austrian to reach the final since Thomas Muster in 1995 (l. to Dewulf)…The last Austrian winner was Horst Skoff in 1988 (d. Muster)
• He’s trying to become the fourth player on the ATP World Tour this year to win singles and doubles titles in the same tournament…Tommy Robredo (Costa do Sauipe), Radek Stepanek (San Jose) and Rajeev Ram (Newport) are the previous double winners
• Left-handers are 7-11 in finals this year on the ATP World Tour and two other lefties are in finals Sunday (Michael Llodra in Lyon and Horacio Zeballos in St. Petersburg)…This year’s left-handed winners are Rafael Nadal (5), Thomaz Bellucci (1) and Fernando Verdasco (1)
• He’s appearing in his first ATP World Tour final since Kitzbuehel on July 20, 2008 (l. to del Potro)…He is 1-6 lifetime in ATP World Tour finals with his lone title coming in Bucharest in 2006 (d. Volandri)
• He comes in ranked No. 35 this week after reaching a career-high of No. 26 on the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings on May 18
• He enters with a 35-29 match record, including 18-17 on hard courts
• His previous best results on the ATP World Tour are the semi-finals in Bangkok last month (l. to Simon) and in Umag on Aug. 1 when he lost to eventual champion Nikolay Davydenko
• He also reached the quarter-finals in Kitzbuehel and Bastad on clay, Eastbourne on grass (l. Djokovic) and New Haven on hard (l. to Verdasco)

DOUBLES FINAL – KUBOT-MARACH EYE THIRD TITLE OF YEAR AGAINST AUSTRIAN DUO

No. 3 seeds Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Oliver Marach of Austria take on No. 4 seeds Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer Sunday in the doubles final of the Bank Austria Tennis Trophy.

Kubot and Marach are appearing in their fourth ATP World Tour final of the season after winning titles in Casablanca in April and Belgrade in May while reaching the final in Acapulco, all on clay. They are No. 6 in the ATP Doubles Team Rankings and they are battling for one of the four remaining positions in the year-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.

They have won all three matches in a Match Tie-break en route to the final. Kubot is 2-3 lifetime in ATP World Tour finals and Marach is 4-5 in finals.

Knowle and Melzer, who were finalists in Vienna three years ago, are trying to capture their third ATP World Tour title of the year. The Austrians have won titles in Tokyo three weeks ago and at the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven in August.

The 28-year-old Melzer has a 6-11 record in ATP World Tour finals while Knowle, 35, has a 13-13 lifetime record in title matches.  He also finished runner-up in Marseille (w/A. Ram) in February.