Gael Monfils booked his place in the Vienna final after beating Philip Kohlschreiber 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-2).
22-year-old to square off against qualifier in Vienna final
Gael Monfils booked his place in the Vienna final after beating Philip Kohlschreiber 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7-2) in Saturday's thrilling contest.
The eighth seeded Frenchman eventually sealed the dramatic battle over the unseeded German nine minutes short of three hours.
Monfils nearly threw away the match when he failed to convert three match points on serve, but the former junior No. 1 reached his first final of the year after dominating the tiebreaker.
Monfils, a French-open semi-finalist this year, had to clear his mind after letting match points slip and the talented tight-hander said he was delighted to have stayed in the moment.
"I knew I had to keep going, to be focused," he said.
"Straight after I had the match points I was focused about the tiebreak so I didn't let him play and didn't keep the match points on my mind.
"He's strong on his baseline and always stretches you with his crosscourt forehand, so to play my game today was tougher."
Finely balanced
The match was finely balanced from beginning to end, with both players putting a heavy shift in on court.
Although break point opportunities were aplenty in the opening set, Monfils was the only player who earned a break when Kohlschreiber's netted backhand gave the 22-year-old a 4-3 lead, from which Monfils served out the set with two straight aces.
The second set saw both players easily hold serve, but Kohlschreiber struck at 6-5 when his aggressive play was rewarded with the set's only break.
In the final set, Monfils thought he had made the vital breakthrough at 1-1 game when he won a marathon game that went to deuce 10 times.
Kohlschreiber failed to convert four game points, before Monfils broke on his seventh break point and leapt to his chair in delight.
His joy was premature, however, as a forehand error allowed Kohlschreiber to level at 3-3.
Games then went with serve until Kohlschreiber netted a backhand to give Monfils a break to lead 6-5.
But Monfils still had to battle to close out the match, letting a 40-0 lead fall away, dropping his serve, but then racing through the tiebreak.
Qualifier
He will play German qualifier Philipp Petzschner, who continued his run by dispatching former champion Feliciano Lopez of Spain 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Unseeded Lopez, who won his only career title in Vienna in 2004, took advantage of his opponent's often unforced errors in the first set, saving three break points in his opening two service games before breaking Petzschner to lead 4-2.
That was enough to secure him the first set, but in the second set it was Lopez who struggled to keep the ball in play as Petzschner settled and was more aggressive, often coming to the net to put away a volley.
The outcome was virtually decided at 2-2 in the final set when the ball clipped the net cord to give Petzschner break point and Lopez then netted a forehand to give the German a 3-2 lead.
Lopez then dropped his serve again at 5-3, as Petzschner clinched victory with a winning forehand volley.
