Haas into CA quarters

Haas was comfortably through in two sets

Sixth seed Tommy Haas cruised into the quarter-finals of the CA Trophy in Vienna.

The German beat Czech Jiri Novak 7-6 6-3 on Thursday.

Fourth seed Roger Federer of Switzerland is also through after surviving a spirited challenge from Albert Costa to win 7-6 6-2.

Haas is chasing his third title of the year and also the necessary points to secure a berth in the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup in Sydney.

Slow to find rhythm

He was also a semi-finalist at last week's Kremlin Cup in Moscow.

One of only two seeds left in this competition, he will meet either Spaniard Tommy Robredo or Czech Bohdan Ulihrach in the quarter-finals.

Haas was slow to find his rhythm in the first set and traded several breaks with Novak.

But he found his timing in the second set and frequently outsmarted his opponent with some blistering forehands interspersed with assaults at the net.

Sweden's Thomas Enqvist, making a comeback after recent injuries, was another to progress to the quarter-final stage.

He beat Spaniard Alberto Martin 6-2 7-5 and will play either Andreas Vinciguerra or Adrian Voinea in the next round.