Saturday was a very good day for Marin Cilic.

By winning his semi-final match at the Swiss Indoors Basel, the Croat played himself into his second ATP World Tour final of the season and inside the cut to make the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held 13-20 Nov. at The O2 in London.

The former US Open champion advanced by producing emotional tennis against serve/volleying lefty Mischa Zverev, who’s finding his best tennis after years of injuries. Cilic saved six of seven break points to come back from a set down and prevail against the 29-year-old 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Cilic will meet third seed Kei Nishikori in Sunday’s final. The Japanese leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 7-4 but Cilic won the last time they met in a final, at Flushing Meadows in 2014. The Croatian will be going for his second title of the season, having won his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown in August in Cincinnati (d. Murray).

The 6’6” right-hander also will be attempting to solidify his position among London contenders. With his semi-final victory, Cilic gained 120 more points and leapfrogged Tomas Berdych to take the No. 9 spot in the Emirates ATP Race To London. The top eight players at the end of the season will qualify for the event. (Rafael Nadal currently occupies the No. 7 spot but will not compete again until 2017.)

View The Emirates ATP Race To London

Should Cilic win Sunday’s final, he’d gain 200 more points and would have a total of 3,090, only 115 points behind No. 8 Dominic Thiem heading into the BNP Paribas Masters, the final tournament of the regular season. Almost half – seven – of Cilic’s 15 titles have come indoors, with his most recent indoors title coming last year at Moscow (d. Bautista Agut).

Cilic has competed at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals one other time, in 2014. He went 0-3 in the round-robin stage.

FINAL PREVIEW: The Swiss Indoors Basel championship on Sunday features two of the bright stars on the ATP World Tour as No. 4 seed Marin Cilic takes on No. 3 seed Kei Nishikori. This is the 12th meeting between the two with Nishikori holding a 7-4 advantage although they each have won 16 sets. This is also their second meeting in a final. At the 2014 US Open, Cilic defeated Nishikori in straight sets to capture his first Grand Slam crown. Both players have served well en route to the final, holding a combined 87 of 90 games. The winner will earn his second ATP World Tour title of the season.

Cilic, who has held serve 42 of 43 games in his four matches, moved to No. 9 in the Emirates ATP Race to London by beating Mischa Zverev on Saturday. The 28-year-old Croat holds the final position for the season finale by 10 points over Tomas Berdych. If Cilic wins the title, he will increase the margin to 210 points going into the final ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season in Paris, which begins on Monday. No. 9 is the cut for qualification at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals with Rafael Nadal out for the season. Cilic is appearing in his fourth ATP World Tour final of the season (1-2) and 27th in his career (15-11). His lone title came at ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati in August (d. Murray).

Nishikori is appearing in his fifth ATP World Tour final of the year (1-3). The 26-year-old Japanese star has won a personal-best 56 matches this season and has qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the third straight year. Nishikori reached the Basel final five years ago in his debut (d. No. 1 Djokovic in SF, l. to No. 4 Federer) and he has held serve 45 of 47 games (saving 13 of 15 break points). He saved two match points in his three-set semi-final win over Gilles Muller. Nishikori, who captured the Memphis title for the fourth year in a row in February, is making his 20th appearance in a final (11-8).

Robert Lindstedt and Michael Venus dented Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau’s London hopes on Saturday at the Swiss Indoors Basel. The Swede/Kiwi pairing saved seven of nine break points to come back to defeat Rojer/Tecau 1-6, 3-6, 10-8 in the semi-finals.

Lindstedt/Venus will face either second seeds Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin or fourth seeds Marcel Granollers and Jack Sock in the Basel final.

Rojer/Tecau are the defending champions at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, but they’re in danger of missing the cut this season. Rojer/Tecau are currently No. 9 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London, one spot outside of qualification. The top eight doubles teams at the end of the season will qualify for the year-end championships, to be held 13-20 Nov. at The O2 in London.

View The Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London

The top seeds breezed through the opening set, earning their two breaks. But Lindstedt/Venus converted on their lone break point in the second set to even the match. They then capitalised on the momentum shift by racing to a 7-1 lead in the Match Tie-break and closed out the win in 67 minutes.

Vienna Doubles Final Set

Fourth seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo ended Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan’s career milestone celebration at the Erste Bank Open 500. On Friday, the Americans beat Pablo Cuevas and Viktor Troicki in the quarter-finals in Vienna to become the first team to reach 1,000 doubles team match wins in ATP World Tour history.

But Kubot/Melo won nearly 80 per cent of their first-serve points to beat the Bryan brothers 4-6, 6-2, 12-10 and reach the Vienna final. Kubot/Melo will face Barclays ATP World Tour Finals hopefuls Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin on Sunday. Marach/Martin entered Saturday in 11^th place in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London.

Andy Murray is now six wins and a Novak Djokovic loss away from achieving a lifelong dream of reaching No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

The Scot reached the Erste Bank Open 500 final on Saturday in Vienna because of a walkover from David Ferrer, who didn’t play due to a muscle injury in his left leg. The 34-year-old Spaniard had spent two hours and 33 minutes beating Viktor Troicki on Friday.

“It was impossible,” Ferrer said of playing on Saturday. “I am disappointed but I have to be positive and will be ready for next season.”

Ferrer had conceded a walkover only one other time in an ATP World Tour tournament. In 2009, the Spaniard withdrew from his second-round match in Valencia. He’s played 1,024 career matches.

Murray said: “Now I just try to get ready for the final, use today as a bit of rest day, practise a little bit on the centre court and then see what happens tomorrow.”

Sunday will mark Murray’s 11^th final of the season and a chance for his seventh title, which would be a career high and tie Djokovic for most in 2016.

The Scot will meet Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Ivo Karlovic 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(6). Murray leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 13-2 and has won their past four contests.

Should Murray win the Vienna final, he’d move to within 415 points of Djokovic in the Emirates ATP Race To London. If that scenario plays out, to reach No. 1, Murray would need to win the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris next week and have Djokovic lose before the Paris final. If Djokovic reaches the final, he’ll remain No. 1.

View The Emirates ATP Race To London

The 29-year-old Murray is trying to become the oldest first-time No. 1 since John Newcombe, at 30 years of age, on 3 June 1974.

Any shift in the order of the Top Two would be a dramatic change for both players. Djokovic has claimed the top spot consecutively since 7 July 2014. Murray first reached No. 2 in the Emirates ATP Rankings more than seven years ago, on 17 August 2009. On Monday, Murray will have spent 76 weeks altogether at No. 2.

Murray’s Time As No. 2 In The Emirates ATP Rankings

The Scot has won 14 consecutive matches and leads the ATP World Tour with 69 match wins this season.

“Looking forward to it. It will be a tough match. Both Ivo and Jo are big servers and like playing indoors,” Murray said. “But I’m obviously motivated to try and finish the season as strong as I can and being in another final is obviously good. It’s been a tough week. First couple of matches were really tricky but now I get the chance to play for the title and hopefully play my best match in the final.”