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Top seed Marin Cilic and number two Radek Stepanek ran down first round opponents at the Austria Tennis Trophy to keep their thin hopes of a place in the ATP year-end event alive.

Croatia's Cilic (pictured), standing provisional 12th in the chase for the last two spots in the eight-man London field, did his part with a defeat of Colombian Alejandro Falla 6-2 6-3.

Stepanek was equally emphatic in putting away Pole Lucasz Kubot 6-4 6-1.

The Czech winner stands 14th in the chase for the World Tour Finals, where he played as an alternate a year ago in Shanghai.

Spain's Feliciano Lopez credited a recent haircut with improving his tennis after he reached the second round.

Lopez, who has a special place in his heart for Vienna, advanced in his opening match over local wild card Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-4 6-4.

"I really like it here - it's the scene of my first and only trophy," said the number 45 who lifted the indoor title in Vienna in 2004 over Argentine Guillermo Canas.

The Spaniard next faces either Finn Jarkko Nieminen or Daniel Koellerer, another home player at the Stadthalle.

Lopez, 15-21 in what has been a disappointing ATP season, has dropped from 27th since the start of the year.

Much of that is due to a dozen first-round losses, the most recent in Malaysia last month.

But everything changed after a serious spin in the barber's chair, with the 28-year-old suddenly picking up his pace with a semi-final in Shanghai against Rafael Nadal, the first of his career at the Masters 1000 level.

"I was losing so much that I just had to do something about it. I didn't know what else, so I cut my hair. All of a sudden I started to win, so I don't want to change a thing now."

A calf injury forced defending champion Philipp Petzschner to withdraw before his opening match.

Petzschner was replaced in the field by qualifying rounds lucky loser Michael Berrer, ranked 133rd who made the most of his opportunity with a defeat of Belgian Steve Darcis 6-3 6-2.

Watch the highlights of the semi-finals from Vienna from 10.30pm on Saturday on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521); Also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe.

AFP