Starace, Hanescu, Dabul reach quarters at Austrian Open

KITZBUEHEL, Austria -- Potito Starace beat Austrian wild card Daniel Koellerer 6-4, 6-3 Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Austrian Open.

The fouth-seeded Italian, who lost last year's final to Juan Monaco, dropped serve once but saved eight break points.

Starace next plays either fifth-seeded Eduardo Schwank or Daniel Brands, who played later Wednesday.

Victor Hanescu of Romania continued his recent run of good results by beating Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-1.

Hanescu, who won his maiden ATP title last Sunday in Gstaad, Switzerland, conceded only seven points on serve against the Spaniard, who upset third-seeded Agustin Calleri in the opening round Tuesday.

In the quarterfinals, Hanescu plays Brian Dabul of Argentina, who defeated Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-3.