Erste Bank Open: Top seeds Murray, Ferrer advance to Vienna final
The top-seeded David Ferrer defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (3) on Saturday to set up a final against Andy Murray at the Erste Bank Open.
Murray, who is seeded second, defeated Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-4, 6-3 to reach his second final of the season.
Murray leads Ferrer 7-6 though the fifth-ranked Spaniard won their only previous meeting this season in Shanghai last week. Both players are competing to qualify for the ATP Finals in London next month.
"I managed to win the big points," said Murray, who had hard-fought wins over Vasek Pospisil and Jan-Lennard Struff in earlier rounds. "It was a bit better today. The previous matches my opponents have been big servers."
Murray's 50th win of the season saw him provisionally rise to eighth place in the qualifying race to the eight-man ATP Finals in London next month.
If Murray holds on to his position, he will qualify for a seventh straight year for the prestigious season-ending tournament, though he pulled out following back surgery in 2013.
The Scot improved to 6-0 against the former 12th-ranked Troicki, who is now 127th after returning from a one-year doping suspension in July.
Murray dropped serve while leading 3-2 in the opening set on the only break point he faced but was in control of the match throughout.
Troicki saved a break point 1-1 and five more at 2-2 before losing his serve but the Serb leveled the score the next game. Another break at 4-4 helped Murray win the first set, and the Scot added two more in the second to smoothly wrap up the win.
