VIENNA (AFP) - Top seed Marin Cilic revved up a bid for possible inclusion in next month's season-ending ATP final as he reached the quarter-finals with a 7-6 (9/7), 6-4 defeat of German Daniel Brands at the Austria Tennis Trophy Thursday.

Cilic is among ten men chasing the last two places in the World Tour Finals in London from November 22.

The recent finalist in Beijing, where he lost to Novak Djokovic, stands provisional 12th in the race. But he is under pressure from rival seeds at the Stadtdalle, with number two Radek Stepanek on 14th and third seed Gael Monfils of France 16th.

The season will come down to this weekend and the next fortnight, with final spots in the eight-man London field to be possibly decided at the Paris Masters, the last event of the regular season from November 9.

Against the 125th-ranked Brands, wild card Cilic - he came late to the field when injured US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro withdrew - threw down seven aces in just over 90 minutes on court.

The Cilic victory was his 42nd of the season against 18 losses and a title in early January in Chennai.

Cilic will play a quarter-final against Spain's sixth seed Feliciano Lopez, a winner over temperamental local Daniel Koellerer 6-3, 6-3.

Lopez has plenty riding on the match as he tries to continues his advance at the site of his lone ATP singles title, from 2004.

The 28-year-old Lopez, who played a Shanghai semi-final this month but was unable to finish against Rafael Nadal due to an ankle problem, has now reached six Vienna last-eight spots.

He stands 16-4 at the indoor tournament.

Koellerer, known as a hothead, lived up to his reputation, smashing a racket after losing the opening set and failing to capitalise in the second after getting an early break back.

Lopez is only now turning the corner after losing ten times in first rounds during 2009 and seeing his ranking fall from inside the Top 30 to its current 45th.