Vienna, Austria (The Hawk): On Thursday at the Vienna Open, world No. 4 Daniil Medvedev had to wait his turn against Dominic Thiem, but the top seed's perseverance paid off as he recorded a 6-3, 6-3 second-round victory.
In a tightly contested opening set at the indoor ATP 500 competition, both players started strong. While Medvedev retaliated with with of his signature tough defence, Thiem delighted the raucous home crowd with some clean hitting from both wings from the baseline.
The top seed's mix of steady, strong hitting, though, came to the fore as he surged away to a 98-minute triumph after winning the first break of the match for 4-3.
"It was a challenging game. Even if you win 6-3, 6-3, you can tell it was a difficult match when it takes an hour and 40 minutes. After his victory, Medvedev commented, "It might have gone either way.
"I started to put a lot of pressure on his serve at one point in the match. The key today, in my opinion, was not giving him too many opportunities on my serve because I was serving well myself.
As he tied Thiem at 3-3 in their ATP Head2Head series, Medvedev conceded that the seventh game of the match had been vital.
The top seed remarked, "That was the first game in the match where I actually won the first point on his serve.
"If not, it was always 40/0 for him, making it slightly more difficult to break. I was able to pressure him during this game. He had two or three game points, but I was able to return the score to a two, which is really significant. I gained some momentum in the game when I won it," he continued.
With the victory, Medvedev matched his quarterfinal performance from his sole prior appearance in Vienna in 2020. In order to win his second ATP Tour championship of the year, the 26-year-old will next face either sixth seed Jannik Sinner or Francisco Cerundolo.
A strong performance in Vienna would put Medvedev closer to securing one of the three remaining qualifying berths for the Nitto ATP Finals in November. Medvedev is now fifth in the ATP Live Race To Turin.
Hubert Hurkacz, another prospect for Turin, also made it to the quarterfinals after maintaining composure to defeat Emil Ruusuvuori in the last set.
The fifth seed rebounded brilliantly after losing the second set to the Finn, storming to an unstoppable 4-1 lead and going on to win 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 with 41 aces.
Hurkacz is attempting to re-qualify for the ATP Finals and is currently ranked ninth in the ATP Live Race to Turin. With a successful title defence in Vienna, the 25-year-old Pole may move up as high as eighth. In the quarterfinals, he will face either second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas or Borna Coric.
Also on Thursday, Grigor Dimitrov's assured performance derailed Andrey Rublev's attempt to qualify for the ATP Finals for a third straight year. In 71 minutes, the Bulgarian won 6-3, 6-4 to even his ATP Head to Head series with Rublev at 3-3. Rublev is now ranked sixth in the ATP Live Race to Turin, but Felix Auger-Aliassime might pass him this week.
Marcos Giron, who defeated Cameron Norrie in an amazing upset by scores of 6-3, 6-4, will face Dimitrov in the quarterfinals.
Giron had a record of 1-2 since reaching his first ATP Tour final in San Diego in September, but the American defeated the seventh seed and advanced to his fifth tour-level quarterfinal of the year after converting three of three break points.
(Inputs from Agencies)