Dominic Thiem’s first 13 matches at the Rio Open presented by Claro ended in straight sets. So it’s only fitting that he’s now gone the distance twice in a row in Brazil.

Thiem overcame a set-and-a-break deficit on Thursday evening, battling past 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier Jaume Munar 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 41 minutes. The Austrian advances to the quarter-finals in Rio de Janeiro for the fourth time on his fifth attempt.

“All that counts is the win,” Thiem said. “That’s what I did today. I was fighting great from the first to the last point. That’s what I’m proud of today and that’s what I’m taking on [to the next round]. Tomorrow is a new day.”

Munar came out firing from the first point, showing no intention of allowing the powerful top seed to overwhelm him, even if he hadn’t won any of the pair’s four previous ATP Head2Head sets. The Spaniard gave the World No. 4 fits with his speedy defence and a heavy dose of drop shots.

It’s not too often that Thiem has to scramble for solutions, typically overpowering opponents with the tremendous pace and spin on his groundstrokes. But after badly missing a forehand drop volley to go down 0-2 in the second set, he was running out of options.

“I felt a little bit tight at the beginning and I think when I was a set and a break down a little bit of pressure fell off and then I raised my level a little bit,” Thiem said. “When I made a break for 1-2 in the second set I felt this little kick coming through my body and I was able to raise my level and from that moment I was putting a little bit more energy and I was able to turn the match around.”

Thiem did not panic, however, breaking back in the next game. And the 2017 champion increasingly backed away from the baseline to take even bigger cuts at the ball, hitting heavier shots to force Munar to drop the ball short, tilting the rallies in his favour.

It seemed Thiem had the match under control when he broke for 4-2 in the decider. But Munar never faded, forcing Thiem to put him away. The World No. 99 broke back and levelled the score at 4-4 with incredible defence, making the favourite go for more and more.

But once again, Thiem raised his level, limiting his errors in gruelling points. Munar saved one match point with a monstrous forehand down the line that was in by mere millimetres. But Thiem was too good on his second opportunity. The Austrian forced Munar to volley up, allowing him to put away a backhand passing shot.

“I think he’s ranked worse at the moment than he’s playing. He played a good match, didn’t give me any free points. For sure I wasn’t at my best again. For sure I’m not yet at my level again which I had in Australia. But it’s normal. I’m back on clay for the first time since August.”

Thiem will next play Italian Gianluca Mager, who upset Buenos Aires champion and eighth seed Casper Ruud in the first round.

Mager scored the biggest result of his career on Thursday by dismissing Portuguese Joao Domingues 6-3, 7-6(5) in a battle of qualifiers. The 25-year-old Italian saved a set point on his serve at 4-5 in the second set before eventually moving into his maiden ATP Tour quarter-final. He is projected to surpass his career-high FedEx ATP Ranking of No. 114 on Monday.

Second seeds Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo encountered few problems on Thursday at the Rio Open presented by Claro, charging into the doubles semi-finals with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Roman Jebavy/Igor Zelenay. Kubot/Melo saved both break points and cruised to victory after 75 minutes.

Third seeds Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos prevailed in a hard-fought 6-4, 6-7(3), 10-8 clash with Maximo Gonzalez/Fabrice Martin. They are on a six-match winning streak after taking the title last week in Buenos Aires (d. Duran/Londero).

Awaiting them in the semi-finals are Felipe Meligeni Rodrigues Alves/Thiago Monteiro, who defeated Orlando Luz/Rafael Matos 6-3, 7-6(7) in a battle of Brazilian wild cards. Rodrigues Alves/Monteiro erased two set points at 4/6 in the tie-break before converting their third match point. This is the first tour-level doubles semi-final for either player.

At the Open 13 Provence in Marseille, top seeds Kevin Krawietz/Andreas Mies moved past Benoit Paire/David Vega Hernandez 6-2, 7-6(5). Next up is a semi-final clash with Nicolas Mahut/Vasek Pospisil, who upset fourth seeds Jurgen Melzer/Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-3, 6-4.

Quarter-final action at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com saw fourth seeds Luke Bambrdge/Ben McLachlan take out Nicholas Monroe/Jackson Withrow 6-2, 7-6(5). They’ll face Nikola Cacic/Hugo Nys for a place in the final after the Croatian-French duo defeated Taylor Fritz/Tommy Paul 7-6(4), 6-4.

Marcelo Arevalo/Jonny O’Mara broke serve three times in their 6-4, 6-4 victory against Christian Harrison/Dennis Novikov. Arevalo/O’Mara await the winner of top seeds Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan and Divij Sharan/Artem Sitak.

Italian Lorenzo Sonego produced a major upset on Thursday at the Rio Open presented by Claro, rallying from a break down in each set to defeat second-seeded Serbian Dusan Lajovic 7-6(5), 7-6(5) and reach the quarter-finals.

Sonego trailed by 3-4 in the opening set and 0-3 in the second set, but raised his level at critical moments to prevail in two hours and 10 minutes. The 24-year-old is through to his first quarter-final at an ATP 500 event and tied his ATP Head2Head series with Lajovic at 1-1. He awaits the winner of fifth-seeded Croatian Borna Coric and #NextGenATP Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild.

Gianluca Mager scored the biggest result of his career by dismissing Portuguese Joao Domingues 6-3, 7-6(5) in a battle of qualifiers. The 25-year-old Italian saved a set point on his serve at 4-5 in the second set before eventually moving into his maiden ATP Tour quarter-final. He is projected to surpass his career-high FedEx ATP Ranking of No. 114 on Monday.

Next up for Mager is the winner of the last match on Thursday’s schedule between top-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem and Spaniard Jaume Munar.

#LoveYourPetDay, celebrated each year on 20 February, is trending on social media as people celebrate the furry friends in their lives. From tiny dogs to large horses, ATPTour.com looks at the animals that your favourite players come home to when they’re off the road.

Roberto Bautista Agut tends to eight horses when he’s back home in Spain.

Diego Schwartzman enjoys spending time with his two dogs at home in Buenos Aires.

Alexander Zverev cuddles with his first dog, Lovik. He got a second dog, named Pop, last year in Miami.

Kevin Anderson’s dog, Lady Kady, has her own social media handles.

John Isner unwinds with his dog, Magill.

Steve Johnson regularly shares photos of his bulldog, appropriately named Chubbs.

Sam Querrey picked up his second dog, Ruby, last March.

Jiri Vesely brings his dog on the road whenever possible.

Players who compete at the Cordoba Open can also bring their dogs as the tournament became the first “dog-friendly” event on the ATP Tour calendar.

#NextGenATP Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime saved three match points on Thursday, battling through a slew of tweeners and screaming forehands to overcome Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-0, 6-7(6), 7-6(9) in a two-hour, 40-minute thriller at the Open 13 Provence that the players nor fans watching will soon forget.

The seventh seed steadied himself well after letting slip one match point in the second-set tie-break, eventually triumphing on his sixth match point to reach the quarter-finals in Marseille. Auger-Aliassime, who lost to Herbert in straight sets two weeks ago in Montpellier, struck 16 aces and won 85 per cent of his first-serve points as he continues his pursuit of a maiden ATP Tour title.

The 19-year-old Canadian has now saved multiple match points in his first two matches at this indoor ATP 250 event, erasing two of them in his first-round victory against Italian Stefano Travaglia. Auger-Aliassime will next play third seed David Goffin or Belarusian Egor Gerasimov.

For a moment, it seemed destiny was on Herbert’s side. The Frenchman not only hit a tweener lob on set point in the second set to force a decider, but he struck another clutch tweener to help escape pressure on serve deep in the third set.

Then at 6/6 in the ensuing tie-break, Auger-Aliassime played a perfect point and crushed an overhead into the open court. But on the full stretch, Herbert blasted a forehand pass down the line that the diving Canadian couldn’t handle, giving him a match point on his own serve. The Frenchman was unable to muster the courageous tennis he played under pressure during the rest of the match, pushing a backhand into the net.

On the other two match points Auger-Aliassime faced — at 5/6 and 7/8 in the same tie-break — the teen showed no fear, dictating with his forehand and then blasting an unreturned serve down the T. Felix finished off his victory with an ace out wide, letting out a roar of “Allez!”

It is a key week for the Canadian, who last year reached his first ATP Tour final in Rio de Janeiro as the World No. 104. He has since reached three additional tour-level championship matches, including one last week in Rotterdam (0-4).

Sixth-seeded Frenchman Ugo Humbert needed all of his fighting qualities on Thursday at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com, erasing a set point to battle past #NextGenATP Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4, 7-6(6) and move into the quarter-finals.

Humbert broke Kecmanovic as the Serbian served for the second set at 6-5, then fought back from 5/6 in the tie-break to prevail after one hour and 43 minutes. The Frenchman picked up his first win over Kecmanovic in their ATP Head2Head series (1-3), taking revenge after losing to the 20-year-old last week in New York.

”It’s always tough to play against Miomir because he’s a great player. He always plays at a high level against me,” Humbert said. “I lost to him last week and was a little bit stressed before the match, so I’m very happy to get the win today. You have to enjoy the victory because it’s not easy every week.”

Humbert advanced to his third quarter-final of the year and moved to 8-3 this season. The 21-year-old captured his maiden ATP Tour title last month in Auckland (d. Paire).

“Winning in Auckland gave me a lot of confidence,” Humbert said. “I beat some great players, [but] I have to continue my improvements every day.”

Next up for the sixth seed is the winner of the all-American clash between Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul. Humbert fell to Tiafoe during round-robin action in last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals. 

The evening session will feature second-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic taking on German Cedrik-Marcel Stebe and Jack Sock squaring off with fellow American Steve Johnson.

World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev struggled for consistency early on, but his greater experience told on Thursday in a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals champion Jannik Sinner in 80 minutes at the Open 13 Provence.

Medvedev could only shrug his shoulders in the 25-minute first set, when Sinner played with great discipline off both wings to break twice. The top-seeded Russian tightened up his defence in the second set – breaking in the fourth and six games – by keeping the ball low and short to negate Sinner’s groundstroke power. Medvedev didn’t look back, going on to win 16 of the first 19 points in the deciding set.

Last week, Sinner recorded the first Top 10 match win of his career over No. 10-ranked David Goffin in the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament second round. The 18-year-old rose to a career-high No. 68 in the FedEx ATP Rankings on 17 February.

Medvedev, who has an 8-3 match record in 2020, will next face Gilles Simon, the 2007 and 2015 champion, who saved two set points from 4/6 in the first set tie-break of a 7-6(6), 6-4 victory over Aljaz Bedene in one hour and 52 minutes. Bedene had won their three previous ATP Head2Head meetings.

Earlier in the afternoon, Denis Shapovalov struck 17 aces past two-time former finalist Marin Cilic in a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory in just under two hours. The 20-year-old will play Alexander Bublik in the quarter-finals.

“I knew going into it that Marin was going to be a tough opponent as we’d had two close matches before,” said Shapovalov. “I started well in the first set, got an early break and held there. In the second set, I felt like he improved his serve and raised his game. He played too well, then in the third set I needed to raise my game. Today was really good tennis and I felt comfortable on the court. My game has been there the past five or six months and I hope to show it more this week.”

Later today, third seed Goffin takes on qualifier Egor Gerasimov and seventh seed Felix Auger-Aliassime meets Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

Roger Federer announced today that he will return to competitive tennis during the grass-court swing, after undergoing right knee surgery in Switzerland on Wednesday.

“My right knee has been bothering me for a little while,” Federer announced on Twitter. “I hoped it would go away, but after an examination, and discussion with my team, I decided to have arthroscopic surgery in Switzerland yesterday. After the procedure, the doctors confirmed that it was the right thing to have done and are very confident of a full recovery.

“As a result, I will unfortunately have to miss Dubai, Indian Wells, Bogota, Miami and the French Open. I am grateful for everyone’s support. I can’t wait to be back playing again soon, see you on the grass!”

The 38-year-old, who reached the Australian Open semi-finals (l. to Djokovic) last month, also underwent arthroscopic left knee surgery on 3 February 2016, limiting him to seven tournaments that season.

pic.twitter.com/VVGI1o8XYZ

— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) February 20, 2020

It was in January 1983 that Bjorn Borg announced his retirement from professional tennis, leaving behind a Hall of Fame legacy that redefined the game. Now, 37 years later, another Borg has arrived on the scene.

On Tuesday, Bjorn’s son Leo Borg made his pro debut at the Trofeo Perrel Faip in Bergamo, Italy. The ATP Challenger Tour event, which is celebrating its 15th edition, welcomed the 16-year-old with a main draw wild card. Despite falling to fellow teen Chun-hsin Tseng 6-3, 6-1 in the first round, Borg admits he learned a lot from the experience.

“My level is not so far from this,” said the Swede. “It was a very positive experience. I had fun and I enjoyed it. I feel it was a good performance for me.”

Borg’s arrival on the Challenger circuit has been one of the more talked about storylines this week. The teen, who has been developing his game in juniors in recent years, decided to step up to the next level and test his talents. The local media took notice, with two of the most important Italian TV stations – Sky Sports and Mediaset – traveling to Bergamo to cover the Swede’s debut. Tournament organisers hurried to put together a press conference, with more journalists arriving as the day progressed.

Despite the fanfare surrounding the occasion, Borg is blocking out all the noise. Comparisons with his father are only natural, but he admits he is doing better at focusing on his own game and what he can control.

Not wanting to be a distraction, the elder Borg remained in Stockholm, while his son traveled to Bergamo with coach Marios Dimakos. But that did not stop him from preparing young Leo for the moment, providing words of encouragement before the 16-year-old stepped on the court for what would be an anxious debut.

“At first it was a bit difficult to manage the comparisons with my father, but now it’s alright. Of course we spoke before this match and he told me to enjoy the moment, to have fun and not to think about victory or defeat.”

Having grown up a fan of Rafael Nadal, Borg hopes to take one critical trait from the Spaniard: his fighting spirit and “ability to fight for every ball”. The teenager will continue to plot his ascent on the junior circuit for the foreseeable future, while seizing any professional opportunities that come his way.

“I believe that in 2020 I will combine events at many levels. I will come back to play juniors, but I hope to make some ATP points too, playing in ATP Challenger and ITF tournaments.”

Next week, Borg will travel to Pau, France, where he will make his second Challenger appearance at the Terega Open Pau-Pyrenees.