Vienna - Philipp Kohlschreiber began lining up a possible second straight year of German success at the Bank Austria Trophy with a defeat of Spain's Nicolas Almagro 7-5, 6-4 for a semi-final spot Friday.

The number 24 won his sixth match at the tournament to duplicate his showing of a year ago, when he reached the last four at the Stadthalle before losing to Frenchman Gael Monfils.

Compatriot Philipp Petzschner went on to win the 2008 title.

Fourth seed Kohlschreiber will await an opponent as Croatian top seed Marin Cilic faces 2004 winner Feliciano Lopez, the Spanish number six.

Cilic was called in as a late wild card after US Open winner Juan Del Potro pulled out with the injuries which have plagued him since his Grand Slam success over Roger Federer nearly two months ago.

Kohlschreiber concluded his victory over Almagro with an eighth ace after breaking twice and saving all three opportunities against his own serve.

"I like my game right now and I'm really confident on this surface. For me, it doesn't matter if it's fast or slow. I'll play on it no matter what the speed.

"I didn't have a brilliant match but it was solid. I'm pleased to be back in the semi-finals and hope to go farther than last year.

"I'm very confident right now and feel I can do well."

The German, finalist this month against Monfils at Metz, improved to 3-1 over Almagro, ranked 28th and the champion last spring in Acapulco.

Kohlschreiber's victory was his 40th of the season after reaching his third semi-final this year.

In later quarter-finals, second seed Radek Stepanek was playing Austrian Jurgen Melzer while Monfils, the number three, was taking on Serb Janko Tipsarevic, last week's losing finalist in Moscow.

Cilic, Stepanek and Monfils are all chasing one of the last two places in next month's eight-man World Tour Finals in London. (dpa)