Top-seeded wild card Marin Cilic, who is looking to capture his third ATP World Tour title of the year, will meet fourth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in the Bank Austria TennisTrophy semi-finals on Saturday at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament in Vienna.  Kohlschreiber has a 3-1 career lead over Cilic.

“We’ve had good matches before and this year we played twice on clay," said Cilic. "I’m looking forward to playing him. He’s playing good, he likes the surface, he’s hitting the ball really good, so I will have to come up with some good tennis to be able to beat him.”

"I’m not scared (of playing Cilic)," commented Kohlschreiber. "It’s the semi-finals and the big seeds are coming closer to me. He’s a fantastic player and has had great results so he’s a very big opponent for tomorrow. I have nothing to lose, he has nothing to lose so I think it’s going to be a great match."

Cilic, a titlist at the Aircel Chennai Open (d. Devvarman) and PBZ Zagreb Indoors (d. Ancic) this year, knocked out sixth-seeded Spaniard and 2004 champion Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 6-4 in 85 minutes.  It was the pair’s first meeting since the 2006 Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad.  Cilic won 69 per cent of service points and hit eight aces to improve to a 43-18 match record on the season (30-10 on hard courts).

"I think the crucial thing for me was that I started well and I knew that if I got a lot of returns back he was going to give me some chances and that worked well in the first set," assessed Cilic. "I think I played some great points today and I’m really pleased about that."

"Of course I have London on my mind, I can't help but think of it," said Cilic, who is currently 12th in the year-to-date South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings. "I'm a little behind the other guys but I'm looking forward in trying to qualify (for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals)."

Kohlschreiber advanced to the Vienna semi-finals for the second successive year, after he defeated No. 5 seed Nicolas Almagro of Spain 7-5, 6-4 in 77 minutes.  Kohlschreiber, who reached the Open de Moselle final (l. to Monfils) last month, saved all three break points he faced and won 74 per cent of service points.

“It’s tough to explain (why I do so well here)," said Kohlschreiber. "I really like to be here, it’s one of the nicest weeks. I mean, it’s a long season but here the people are nice, they speak my language. The atmosphere here on site, the food, everything is great."

Almagro, the Abierto Mexicano Telcel champion (d. Monfils), hit nine aces in the pair’s third meeting this season, including clashes at two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments – the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open and Shanghai ATP Masters 1000.

Third seed and 2008 runner-up Gael Monfils missed out on the chance to make up ground in the Battle for London as in-form Serbian Janko Tipsarevic defeated the Frenchman 6-4, 6-7(8), 6-3 in two hours and 12 minutes. Monfils, currently 16th in the year-to-date South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings, would have added 160 points to his total by winning the title this week. He is attempting to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the first time.

World No. 46 Tipsarevic is coming off his maiden ATP World Tour final appearance at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow last week, when he finished runner-up to Mikhail Youzhny. The 25 year old improved to a 29-23 mark after reaching his second semi-final of the season.

“I’ve played Gael a few times before and it’s been interesting every time," said Tipsarevic. "He’s one of the most talented guys on the tour. If he gets his head right, in my opinion he is Top 5, very easy. Today, I was feeling the ball really well and played aggressively from the start. Luckily I was focused enough to maintain the concentration until the end."

Tipsarevic next will face seventh-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer, who advanced to his first Vienna semi-final on his 10th appearance (14-9 record) at the indoor hard-court tournament.  Melzer won 81 per cent of service points to knock out second seed Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-2 in 62 minutes. 

"Obviously I’m very happy," said Melzer. "It’s my 10th appearance here in Vienna and I’ve never made the semis so the first time it’s always something special and I’m really looking forward to the semi-finals tomorrow. Hopefully I can go one step further."

The World No. 35 also reached semi-finals at the ATP Studena Croatia Open in Umag (l. to Davydenko) and PTT Thailand Open in Bangkok (l. to Simon).  He improved to 34-29 on the year, while 30-year-old Stepanek dropped to a 41-18 season record. He has a 2-1 record in ATP World Tour finals this year.