Cilic, Monfils, Stepanek among winners
VIENNA -- Marin Cilic and Gael Monfils retained their slim chances of reaching next month's ATP World Tour Finals by toughing out second-round wins at the BA Trophy on Thursday.
Need the scores from any match played in today's tournaments? The top-seeded Cilic beat Daniel Brands of Germany 7-6 (7), 6-4, while the third-seeded Monfils overcame Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.
The pair, along with second-seeded Radek Stepanek, are among the players vying for the last two berths in the elite eight-man tour finals in London next month. Cilic was 12th in line, Stepanek 14th and Monfils a distant 16th.
Sixth-seeded Feliciano Lopez, the 2004 Vienna champion, and seventh-seeded Jurgen Melzer, also reached the quarterfinals.
Cilic was broken when serving for the first set at 5-4 and then saved a set point in the tiebreak. He sealed the win on his third match point and next plays Lopez, who defeated Daniel Koellerer of Austria 6-3, 6-3.
Monfils conceded just seven points in a 17-minute opening set but lost control afterward.
"I've got a headache, nothing serious really," the Frenchman said. "I should be OK tomorrow and play again on the same level as I did in the first set."
Monfils, who reached the final in Vienna last year, used one of seven break points to close out the match in the decider.
He will next play Janko Tipsarevic, who beat Michael Berrer of Germany 7-6 (3), 6-1. Austria's Melzer defeated Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 6-4, 7-5 and will meet Stepanek in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
