Jo-Wilfred Tsonga rallies, gets Andy Murray in Vienna final

Jo-Wilfred Tsonga of France survived a marathon match against Ivo Karlovic of Croatia to set up a date with top-seeded Andy Murray in the final of the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna, Austria.

Tsonga overcame four break points in the second set and a mini-break twice in the third-set tiebreak to pull off the 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (6) victory.

The eighth-seeded Karlovic, who leads the ATP tour in aces, used his booming serve to record 22 aces in the match, but double faulted five times in the decisive third set.

No. 6 seeded Tsonga double faulted twice in the first set to give Karlovic a break and was down a double-break in the second before battling back with 10 straight winners to even the set and eventually prevailing to force the deciding third.

Murray required far less effort to reach the final when fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer pulled out before the start because of a muscle injury in his left leg.

"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."

Murray still has a shot at the World No. 1 ranking if he wins in Vienna, wins next week at the BNP Paribas Masters and current No. Novak Djokovic loses before next week's final.

Murray and Tsonga are former Vienna champions and the top-seeded Brit dominates the head-to-head series with a 13-2 record against the Frenchman. Murray needed five sets to take down Tsonga in their last meeting in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.