ANDY MURRAY is a step closer to qualifying for the end-of-season ATP World Tour finals after reaching the semi-finals of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna following a straight sets win over Jan-Lennard Struff.

The world No.11, who needs to finish the season inside the top eight to make the end-of-year showpiece in London next month, needed a little under 90 minutes to beat the German 6-2, 7-5.

The Scot changed his schedule, opting to play in the Vienna tournament for the first time in a bid to secure valuable rankings points following a disappointing defeat to David Ferrer in the third round of the Shanghai Masters last week.

Serbian Troicki beat Thomaz Bellucci (Bra) 7-6, 6-7, 6-2.