Defending champion Jurgen Melzer and his opponent in last year's final, Marin Cilic, both reached the quarterfinals of the Bank Austria Trophy on Wednesday.
Melzer defeated Lukasz Kubot of Poland 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2), and Cilic beat Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic 7-6 (4), 6-2.
Melzer, the top seed at an ATP event for the first time, had an early break but then lost four games in a row to go 5-3 down. He saved a set point when Kubot served at 5-4, then took the opening set on his first chance in the tiebreaker.
The German went 4-1 up in the second set but again needed a tiebreaker, and converted his first match point when Kubot netted a return. Kubot served 13 aces but also nine double faults.
''It was far from easy as he took many risks,'' said Melzer, ranked a career-high No. 12 in the world. ''I was more consistent and tried to stick to my own game ... ''I was very glad to take that opener. ... From then on, I knew I had to rely on my own strengths.''
In the quarterfinals, Melzer will take on seventh-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber or fellow German Tobias Kamke.
The second-seeded Cilic struggled early against Hajek, who served for the opening set at 5-4. Cilic broke him and dominated from then on, closing out the victory on his third match point to reach his eighth quarterfinal of the season.
''I was fully focussed,'' Cilic said. ''I served well in the tiebreaker and in the second set so winning wasn't a problem in the end.''
In first-round play, Bjorn Phau had a surprise 6-2, 6-4 win over fellow German Florian Mayer, who lost his third career final to Roger Federer in Stockholm on Sunday.
Phau next plays fourth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis, who had a bye in the first round.
