Tennis-Top seed Ljubicic reaches Vienna quarter-finals

VIENNA, Oct 11 (Reuters) Defending champion Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia moved into the quarter-finals of the Vienna Open today with a 6-3 6-3 win over German Florian Mayer.

Sixth-seeded German Tommy Haas's outside chance of qualifying for the Masters Cup faded when he was beaten 6-3 4-6 6-0 by Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty.

Top seed Ljubicic fired 15 aces against Mayer, four in succession in one game, to give him the edge over an opponent who rallied well but had no real weapon to trouble the Croatian.

Ljubicic set the pattern by holding the opening game with successive aces and broke to lead 3-1 when Mayer netted a forehand. He had just one anxious moment, holding off a break point in the next game by hitting a winner after reaching a drop shot.

The Croatian maintained the pressure in the second set but needed patience before breaking to lead 3-2 with a crosscourt forehand. A further break with a winning return gave him the match.

Haas was distinctly unhappy with his erratic performance against Hrbaty, often shouting to himself and disputing a number of calls.

The German failed to win a break point in the opening game, and then he hit a ball into the net in anger and frustration after netting a forehand to go down 5-3.

Haas held two break points to lead 4-2 in the second set, both saved by Hrbaty with aces, but a double-fault gave Haas two more break points at 5-4 and he claimed the second with a forehand return off a tentative second serve.

In the final set, Hrbaty broke for 1-0 when Haas made a backhand error, for 3-0 when Haas put a forehand wide, and for 5-0 with a backhand winner.

In first round matches, eighth seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia defeated Czech Tomas Zib 6-3 6-4 and Frenchman Richard Gasquet beat Alejandro Falla of Colombia 7-6 6-3.

Reuters AY RS2127