Cilic beats Ljubicic to reach China Open tennis final

Marin Cilic deployed his powerful serve to ease past fellow Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-4 6-3 on Saturday and reach the final of the China Open. Cilic, who also reached the final in 2009 before losing to Novak Djokovic, will next face Czech Tomas Berdych or Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who were playing later on Saturday. Honours were even at 3-3 before Cilic, who had lost both his previous matches against his Beijing doubles partner, took the upper hand with a break to lead 5-4. He closed out the set in the next game when a backhand from Ljubicic floated wide. Ljubicic held the advantage early in the second set with two break points for 2-0 and another pair to lead 3-1, but failed to make the most of his opportunities and dropped own serve in the fifth game when his forehand clipped the net and fell wide. The lapse allowed Cilic to pounce and he dominated the remainder of the match, eventually broke his opponent to love in the final game for a 6-3 finish. Ljubicic who has now lost all three semi-finals he has played in Beijing.