Thiem ends Verdasco hoodoo in Vienna
Fernando Verdasco had won all four matches against Dominic Thiem but his dominance of the Austrian ended in Vienna on Thursday.
Dominic Thiem ended his Fernando Verdasco hoodoo to reach the quarter-finals of the Vienna Open in his homeland.
Top seed Thiem had lost all four matches against the experienced Spaniard before coming from behind to secure a 3-6 6-3 6-2 victory on Thursday.
The world number five will face Pablo Carreno Busta in his 11th last-eight encounter of another impressive season after recovering from a poor start.
Verdasco charged into a 3-0 lead and did not face a break point in the first set, but Thiem won 97 per cent of points on serve in the second as he forced a decider.
Thiem dominated the final set, Verdasco winning just one point on the Austrian’s serve to bow out in the second round.
An quarter-final in 2019 awaits for @ThiemDomi!
The top seed defeats Verdasco for the first time in his career 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the @ErsteBankOpen quarter-finals
@TennisTV pic.twitter.com/w2yNd6Jovw
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 24, 2019
Andrey Rublev’s hopes of winning back-to-back titles are still alive after the Russian beat Hyeon Chung 6-4 6-2.
Rublev, winner of the Kremlin Cup on home soil last weekend, will take on Matteo Berrettini, while fourth seed Gael Monfils defeated teenage wildcard Jannik Sinner 6-3 7-6 (10-8).
Diego Schwartzman accounted for Sam Querrey with a 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 7-6 (7-5) victory and Pablo Carreno Busta needed three sets to get past Mikhail Kukushkin, with Aljaz Bedene also advancing at the expense of Gilles Simon.
