Thiem Builds Rio Momentum

Dominic Thiem returned to the Rio Open presented by Claro quarter-finals with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Dusan Lajovic on Wednesday.

Thiem entered the contest victorious in both previous meetings with the Serbian, while Lajovic had yet to post a win over a Top 10 player.

Last week Thiem played a quarter-final at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament (l. Herbert) and has transitioned onto the Rio clay with ease. He saved two break points at 2-2 to spark four straight games for the World No. 8 to clinch the opening set.

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Lajovic spurned three chances at 1-1 to open up a second-set lead, before the Austrian claimed the pivotal break in the 11th game with one of his 13 winners. The second seed will meet Diego Schwartzman in the final eight. The World No. 51 defeated his countryman Federico Delbonis 6-4, 7-6(1).

Fifth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas also reached the quarter-finals. Fabio Fognini, 2015 Rio finalist, was chasing a 300^th ATP World Tour singles victory and held a dominant 8-1 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against the Spaniard. However, Ramos-Vinolas secured a second successive victory over the Italian 6-2, 6-3 to book an encounter with qualifier Nicolas Kicker.

The Argentinian defeated Arthur De Greef, who had ousted defending champion Pablo Cuevas in the first round, fending off two break points for a 6-3, 6-3 win.

All four top seeds in the doubles advanced into the quarter-finals. Top seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares put in a dominant display to beat Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner 6-4, 6-2. Second seeds Marcelo Melo and Lukasz Kubot defeated wild card duo Fabricio Neis and Joao Souza 6-1, 7-6(4).

Pablo Carreno Busta teamed with Pablo Cuevas to beat Santiago Gonzalez and David Marrero 6-3, 6-3, while Buenos Aires champions Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah continued their recent form in a 6-1, 6-4 win over Thomaz Bellucci and Thiago Monteiro.