Gijon | Thiem battles into last eight

Dominic Thiem held his nerve to progress into the last eight at the Gijon Open in North-Western Spain by recovering from the loss of the opening set to defeat American Marcos Giron 3-6 6-4 6-0 after two-hours and 27-minutes.

It was so close throughout the whole match until the third set. At the end of the second set, anything could have happened. Dominic Thiem

In what proved a hard-fought encounter, the former world No.3 from Austria who has suffered a series of injuries over the past year or so, reached his fourth tour-level quarter final of the season.

Thiem will face either the fourth seed from Argentina, Francisco Cerundolo or the French qualifier Manuel Guinard next.

“It was a very intense match. Long, long rallies and lots of running,” the 29-year-old former US Open champion Thiem said.

“It was so close throughout the whole match until the third set. At the end of the second set, anything could have happened. I had to save a break point at 4-4 in the second set, if he makes it, he is probably going to be the winner.

“It was so close the match, but luckily I was able to win that second set and then running away at the beginning of the third. I am really happy. It was so close, so intense. A great night.”

Meanwhile Americans Tommy Paul and Sebastian Korda both progressed by beating Spanish opposition, respectively Nicolas Alvarez Varona, a qualifier 6-3 7-6(3) for a place in the quarters, and Jaume Munar 6-4 61 to complete the first round.

Meanwhile Andy Murray will be up against Pedro Cachin in the last 16, after the Argentine beat qualifier Alexey Vatutin 7-6(2) 6-0.

In other action on Wednesday the second seed Pablo Carreno Busta dispatched Brazilian Thiego Monteiro 6-4 7-6(3) and will face Arthur Rinderknech who successfully came through an all-French encounter with Conastant Estienne 6-4 6-2.

Also through to the last eight is American Tommy Paul who took out Spanish qualifier Nicolas Alvarez Varona 6-3 7-6(3) and will face either the top seed Andrei Rublev or fellow Muscovite Ilya Ivashka in the last eight.

In Florence, Italy, at the Unicredit Firenze Open, there was a shock upset when second seed and Italian hero Matteo Berrettini crashed out to Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena 5-7 7-6(5) 7-5.

Joining the Spaniard in the quarter finals are Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan, American JJ Wolf and Sweden’s Mikael Ymer.