London sprint inspires Cilic

Cilic: One eye on London

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Marin Cilic cruised into the semi-finals of the Austrian Open with a 6-1 6-4 victory over former champion Feliciano Lopez in Vienna.

The Croatian is making a late bid for one of the two places still to be filled for the end-of-season ATP World Finals in London next month, reaching the final in Beijing earlier in October.

He came into this week in 12th place but victory in Vienna would do wonders for his prospects.

"Of course I have London on my mind, I can't help but think of it," said the youngster. "I'm a little behind the other guys but I'm looking forward in trying to qualify.

"I've played three solid matches here, this one was the best. I got off to a fast start with a break and then saved break points on my serve.

"I played well from the baseline even if I could serve a bit better.

"In the second set he played better but I was able to break after he gave me a few easy points in the seventh game."

Kohlschreiber test

Cilic will face off against Philipp Kohlschreiber for a place in the final, with the German winning three of their four previous meetings.

Kohlschreiber put out Spanish fifth seed Nicolas Almagro 7-5 6-4 and Cilic knows he will have a tough fight on his hands.

"Playing him will be tough," said Cilic. "I will have to lift my game and play better than I did today."

Second seed Radek Stepanek lost a chance to improve on his 14th place in the rankings with his 6-2 6-2 quarter-final loss to Austrian seventh seed Jurgen Melzer.

Janko Tipsarevic awaits Melzer in the semi-final after the Serbian dispatched third seed Gael Monfils 6-4 6-7 (8-10) 6-3.