Updated - Top seed Daniil Medvedev stays perfect in Vienna, defeating home favorite Dominic Thiem, advancing to his 10th quarterfinal this season on Thursday.
Making his second appearance at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, World No. 4 Daniil Medvedev overcame 2019 champion Dominic Thiem, 6-3, 6-3, after one hour and 38 minutes.
In his on-court interview, he remarked: “It was a tough match. It could have gone either way. At one moment in the match, I started to put a lot of pressure on his serve. I was serving good myself, so didn’t [give] him too many opportunities on my serve, and that was the key today, I think.”
Off the back of a flawless first-round victory over Nikoloz Basilashvili on Wednesday, Medvedev hit the court to face crowd favorite Thiem for the sixth time on Tour Thursday in the Austrian city.
The 14-time ATP titlist rallied to steal the opener after producing a double break, fending off an in-form opponent to wrap up a 6-3 win after 58 minutes.
The former World No. 3 fought hard to recover, but his adversary continued to dictate play, untroubled on serve.
Each player won 68 percent of the first serve points, with Medvedev making the difference with his second serve, winning 56 percent on it, while Thiem just won 33 percent on his.
In addition, the Moscow native hit five winners, committing eight unforced errors and converting two of five break-point opportunities.
As the second set kicked off, Gilles Cervara’s pupil picked up where he left off, applying pressure on his rival game.
The 26-year-old went the distance to convert his first break point of the set, and held to take a 4-1 lead he would capitalize, moving on to close out the set 6-3 and the match at the ATP 500 event.
On his way to the triumph, he finished with 21 winners to 12 unforced errors, winning 78 percent of his first serve points and converting three of six break-point opportunities.
Early this season, Medvedev reached the Australian Open final, finishing as runner-up to Rafael Nadal.
Throughout the year, he has captured a lone title at the Los Cabos Open, staged early in August in Mexico, beating Briton Cameron Norrie in the ATP 250 final.
Overall, he moved into three championship matches, at the Australian Open, s-Hertogenbosch, and Halle.
In the last two, contested on grass courts, he fell to Dutchman Tim van Rijthoven and Pole Hubert Hurkacz, respectively.
Next, the 2021 U.S. Open champion will face either Argentine player Francisco Cerundolo or sixth seed Jannik Sinner.
For his part, Thiem has received a qualifying wild card to play at the Rolex Paris Masters next week.
However, in his post-match press conference, the former world number three announced he will not play in Paris Bercy, ending his season to better prepare for next year.
