Eighth seed Dominic Thiem went the distance in his third-round match Thursday at the Mutua Madrid Open, saving five match points in a thrilling 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(9) victory over No. 12 seed Grigor Dimitrov.

“I think it was a very good match from both of us,” said Thiem, who improved to a 2-1 record against the Bulgarian in the FedEx ATP Head2Head series. “The tie-break in the third set was amazing. It was 4-3 for him and I played two very good points. He made two unbelievable rallies. The tie-break is always a little bit [of] luck, but I think it was a good match for both of us. That’s the bad thing about tennis, only one guy can win.”

The Austrian rallied from 2-4 in the final set and 3/6 in the tie-break, also saving match points at 6/7 and 8/9 before converting on his second match point to advance in two hours and 34 minutes. Thiem had forced a decisive set after fighting from 1-3 down in the second, starting his comeback by winning four straight games against Dimitrov.

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“I don’t always play good in the important points, but today yes,” he said. “I saved five match points. I don’t know if I ever saved that many match points in one match, so it’s a really good feeling.

“Tie-breaker is always 50/50. I would say it’s a little bit lucky. But in the third set I showed really good mentality. I was a break down earlier in the set and I came back good. I’m really happy I won a tie-breaker [match] because last one I lost against [Stan] Wawrinka in Indian Wells and now it was luckily my turn.”

With his victory, Thiem moves ahead of Wawrinka to No. 3 in the Emirates ATP Race To London, trailing just Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the leaderboard. The 23 year old will be looking to qualify for the ATP Finals for a second straight year.  

Thiem also advances to his second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final of the season, following his run earlier this year in Indian Wells, and will be looking to reach the semi-finals for the first time at this elite level. He advanced to the clay-court final two weeks ago at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, where he upset World No. 1 Andy Murray before falling to Nadal. 

He next faces #NextGenATP’s Borna Coric, who scored his own upset win over Murray earlier Thursday. Coric, a lucky loser this week in Madrid, defeated Thiem in their previous meeting earlier this year at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

#NextGenATP German Alexander Zverev booked a place in only his second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final on Thursday when he overcame 2012 finalist Tomas Berdych at the Mutua Madrid Open.

The 20-year-old Zverev left No. 11 seed Berdych on 698 match wins after a 6-4, 6-4 victory in 75 minutes. He will next challenge Pablo Cuevas for the first time on Friday.

“Obviously today was a great match,” admitted Zverev. “But also the days before I played very well, against Marin [Cilic] yesterday and against Fernando [Verdasco] in the first round. I’m happy to be in the quarter-finals here.

“I didn’t have a lot of time to recover. I went to bed at about 3 a.m. because the [Cilic] match was done after midnight… That was a difficult thing, but I’m happy with the way I performed. Apart from maybe two games at 4-1 when I was up in the second set, everything else was very positive.”

Zverev converted his fourth break point opportunity for a 2-1 lead in the 40-minute opener. From 5-4, he then played with great poise to win five of the next six games to take a 4-1 advantage in the second set. Berdych recovered to 4-4, but dropped his serve to 30 with his only double fault of the match – much to his frustration. Zverev calmly closed out to love to improve to a 21-8 mark on 2017.

Zverev, who leads the Emirates ATP Race To Milan for a spot at the 21-and-under Next Gen ATP Finals from 7-11 November, also reached the quarter-finals of this year’s Miami Open presented by Itau (l. to Kyrgios). He has already won two ATP World Tour titles this season at the Open Sud de France (d. Gasquet) and at last week’s BMW Open by FWU (d. Pella).

Uruguayan Cuevas advanced to his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final of 2017 (also BNP Paribas Open and Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters) with a 7-5, 0-6, 6-1 victory over Benoit Paire, who beat World No. 2 Stan Wawrinka on Wednesday. It was Cuevas’ first victory over Paire in their fourth meeting.

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#NextGenATP Croatian Borna Coric is a lucky loser in the main draw at the Mutua Madrid Open, but showed plenty of skill in shocking World No. 1 Andy Murray 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals.

“After losing in qualies and I was booking my flight back home, this is a surprise, for sure,” said Coric. “But in the last two matches, I’ve been feeling like I was back in Marrakech and played really good today. It’s a huge win and is going to mean a lot for me because confidence plays a huge role in my tennis.”

Coric, who moved into the main draw after Richard Gasquet withdrew due to back pain, took advantage of his second chance this week by defeating Mischa Zverev and qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert before the win over Murray. He becomes the first lucky loser to reach the quarter-finals in Madrid’s 16-year tournament history.

“Obviously he didn’t play very good today. That was obvious. That’s when I said I’m going to make even more balls, make him play and see what happens,” said Coric. “I didn’t do anything special with my tactics. I was trying to be very boring, just stay with him and try to get some errors from him.”

Coric will next play eighth seed Dominic Thiem, who saved five match points in a thrilling 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(9) victory over Grigor Dimitrov. The Croatian won his lone FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting with Thiem this March at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Miami.

The 20-year-old Croatian has been in fine form this clay-court season, winning his first ATP World Tour title last month in Marrakech by saving five match points in the final against Philipp Kohlschreiber. His run over the past month is a remarkable turnaround after he opened 2017 with a 3-7 record. 

Coric, currently No. 59 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, will move back inside the Top 50 with his run this week. He is currently second in the Emirates ATP Race to Milan, which will determine the seven players who automatically qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals this November. The eighth spot will be decided with a wild card.

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Murray will head back to the drawing board after what he said was as a disappointing performance. The top seed hit 14 winners to 28 unforced errors and won slightly more than half of his service points (29/52). A finalist last year in Madrid (l. Djokovic), he will have even more pressure on him to defend ATP Emirates Rankings points in Rome and Roland Garros, where he won and finished runner-up last year, respectively.

Although the World No. 1 wasn’t happy with his play, he was full of praise for Coric after the match.

“He serves well and moves extremely well. He never gives matches away. He makes a lot of shots and is very consistent,” said Murray. “If you’re not on your game and he’s moving well, making a lot of balls, he can make it very tough for you.”

The World No. 1 previously expressed disappointment with his serve in Monte-Carlo and Barcelona. It appeared he had righted the ship after not facing any break points in his opening-round win this week against Marius Copil, but today’s result shows the consistency in that shot isn’t there yet.

More: Goffin Tops Raonic

Murray struggled with his serve in the first set, winning just 11 per cent of his second serve points. Coric broke Murray three consecutive times and won the last three games of the set to take the early advantage.

Murray hung tough in the second set, but was unable to find good timing on his backhand wing. Frequently missing when he tried to be aggressive on that side, he was often resigned to hitting high balls or defensive slices that allowed Coric to dominate the rallies. A pair of backhand errors from the top seed handed Coric the lone break of the set at 5-3, and the Croatian comfortably held in the next game to wrap up the win in one hour and 25 minutes.

The third-round match at the Mutua Madrid Open between fourth seed Rafael Nadal and 16^th seed Nick Kyrgios had plenty of hype around it, but the Spaniard blunted any chances for drama with a convincing 6-3, 6-1 win. 

“I think I served very well and committed very few errors. I think I made a step forward compared to yesterday. To be able to win 6-3, 6-1 is great news,” said Nadal. “It’s not normal to win against an opponent like this because Nick is a really good opponent.”

Nadal takes the lead against Kyrgios in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 2-1, with both wins coming on clay. He picks up his tour-leading 31st win of the season and remains undefeated on clay this year with a 12-0 record. The four-time Madrid champion picked up his 10th tournament titles this spring at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters and Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.

Next up for Nadal is ninth seed David Goffin, who broke a two-match losing streak against fifth seed Milos Raonic in a 6-4, 6-2 victory that was full of confidence. The Belgian, who improved to a 27-9 match record on the season, has reached two ATP World Tour finals this year at the Garanti Koza Sofia Open (l. to Dimitrov) and the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament (l. to Tsonga).

Nadal dropped just four games in winning his lone FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting with Goffin last month in Monte-Carlo.

“Tomorrow I’m expecting a tough match. It’s going to be against one of the best players. He’s very fit. I know that I have to play at my highest level, perhaps similar to today or even better,” said Nadal. “I think my backhand was good today and my forehand was there. I think I have some margin to do it even better tomorrow and step forward. Hopefully I will make it to the next round. Tomorrow is a day I have to be ready and give my best.”

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Kyrgios arrived in Madrid with a lack of preparation due to traveling to Australia last month for his grandfather’s funeral. The normally confident Aussie admitted in his post-match press conference that “I wasn’t expecting to beat [Nadal] at all tonight,” but believes his game will round into form in the coming days.

“I just haven’t been in the general gist of being a tennis player. I haven’t been training. I’ve just been doing nothing really,” said Kyrgios. “I won a couple rounds and lost to Rafa. I’m relatively happy with my first week on clay. But he played well tonight and was by far the better player.”

Nadal grabbed the first break of the match with a netcord return winner to go up 3-1, but Kyrgios responded with a scorching backhand winner in the next game to break right back. The Aussie quickly gave away the momentum, though, hitting a double fault to put Nadal up 4-2. Kyrgios saved two set points on his serve at 2-5, but Nadal comfortably held in the next game with a forehand winner to take the early advantage.

The second set was one-way traffic for Nadal. The Spaniard won 14 out of 15 points at one stage en route to prevailing in 72 minutes.

Alexander Zverev scored his first win on clay over a Top 10 player in the Emirates ATP Rankings, reaching the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open on Wednesday in a late-night thriller over seventh seed Marin Cilic 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4. 

The #NextGenATP German boosts his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Cilic to 3-1 and has won their past three matches.

He’ll now take on 11^th seed Tomas Berdych for a place in the last eight after the Czech player defeated Robin Haase 7-6(5), 6-3. Zverev trails his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Berydch 1-4, but won their most recent meeting this past September in St. Petersburg.

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Cilic recovered from being a break down at 3-4 in the opening set and held the lead throughout the tie-break to take the early advantage. Zverev was forced to save six break points in his first two service games of the second set, but the momentum swung in his favour after clearing that hurdle. He only needed a single break of serve in each set to claim victory in two hours and 34 minutes.

Zverev has been a hot streak after prevailing on home soil last week in Munich to win his fourth ATP World Tour title and second of the season. He currently sits at No. 19 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, one spot off his career-high standing, but could surpass that with another big run this week.

Benoit Paire recorded the first major upset of the tournament on Court Manolo Santana, hanging tough to defeat third seed Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.

The Frenchman improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Wawrinka to 3-7 and picks up his first win on clay against the former Roland Garros champion.

Next up for Paire is Pablo Cuevas, who won a marathon 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 match against Nicolas Mahut. The World No. 52 in the Emirates ATP Rankings leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head over Cuevas 3-0, including a win this March at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Miami.

Wawrinka was left to rue a series of missed opportunities in the first set. The Swiss star was up 4-2, 40/0, but let Paire back in with several errors and the Frenchman earned the break back with a volley winner. A forehand sent well long by Wawrinka gave Paire a 6-5 lead and the unseeded player comfortably wrapped up the set on serve in the next game.

A 15-minute rain delay pulled both men off the court at 2-2 in the second set. When they returned, it was Paire who stumbled out of the gate by double faulting to give Wawrinka a 3-2 lead. The third seed missed a chance to serve out the set at 5-3, but ripped a forehand return winner on set point in the next game to force a decider.

Wawrinka had momentum in his favour, but played a loose opening game in the third set to drop his serve. He then gave Paire an insurance break at 2-4 with a backhand error. Paire served out the match in the next game to advance in one hour and 48 minutes.

More: Djokovic Fights Hard For Almagro Win

In other second-round matches, 12^th seed Grigor Dimitrov defeated Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 7-5 and will next play eighth seed Dominic Thiem. #NextGenATP Croatian Borna Coric, a lucky loser in the draw, moved past qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert 7-5, 6-4. The 20 year old is rewarded for his efforts with a round of 16 showdown against top seed Andy Murray.

Local favourite David Ferrer advanced without hitting a ball when 10^th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was forced to withdraw due to a shoulder injury.

View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following match-ups Thursday at the Mutua Madrid Open & vote for who you think will win! 
Nadal v Kyrgios | Djokovic v Lopez | Murray v Coric | Nishikori v Ferrer

View Thursday schedule

• Five of the Top 6 seeds are in third-round action at the Mutua Madrid Open on Thursday, including past champions Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Murray meets #NextGenATP player Borna Coric, who could become the first lucky loser ever to reach the Madrid quarter-finals. Djokovic takes an 8-1 head-to-head record into his match with Madrid native Feliciano Lopez.
 
• Nadal, who leads all players with 30 wins in 2017 and four Madrid titles, faces No. 16 seed Nick Kyrgios for the third time. Their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry is even at one win each. Kyrgios hit 37 aces to stun then-No. 1 Nadal at 2014 Wimbledon as a 19-year-old wild card ranked 144th. But when they met again on the clay courts of Rome last May, Nadal rallied from a set down for the win.

• Spaniard David Ferrer seeks his 700th win for a second straight day after receiving a walkover from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Ferrer tries again against 2014 finalist Kei Nishikori, who defeated him at Caja Magica in 2014 and 2015. No. 11 seed Tomas Berdych is nearing a milestone of his own. The 2012 Madrid finalist, two wins shy of 600, meets #NextGenATP player Alexander Zverev.

• No. 5 seed Milos Raonic and No. 9 seed David Goffin will renew their rivalry, which includes the Canadian’s comeback from two sets down en route to the 2016 Wimbledon final. The 26-year-olds are both ranked in the Top 10 after reaching two finals each in 2017. They’ve come a long way from Australian Open qualifying in 2011, when then-No. 152 Raonic defeated then-No. 205 Goffin.

• Another all-seeded showdown pits No. 8 seed Dominic Thiem against No. 12 seed Grigor Dimitrov. Thiem and Dimitrov are among the four remaining players with one-handed backhands, joining Lopez and Pablo Cuevas. The unseeded Uruguayan meets Benoit Paire for a spot in his third ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final of 2017 (0 QFs in 28 prior ATP Masters 1000 appearances).

700-WINS CLUB (ALL PLAYERS)

Rank            Player                         Wins

1            Jimmy Connors                     1,256

2            Roger Federer*                     1,099

3            Ivan Lendl                              1,068

4            Guillermo Vilas                        929

5            John McEnroe                         877

6            Andre Agassi                           870

7            Rafael Nadal*                          836

8            Stefan Edberg                         801

9            Ilie Nastase                             780

 10         Novak Djokovic*                      766

11           Pete Sampras                         762

12           Boris Becker                           713

13            David Ferrer*                         699

* Active Player

Second seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan advanced to the Mutua Madrid Open quarter-finals with a 5-7, 6-2, 10-7 win over Fabrice Martin and Daniel Nestor on Wednesday. The Americans capitalised on both of their break point chances to reach the last eight in Madrid, where they will face Nick Kyrgios and Jack Sock.

Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, the third seeds, defeated Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 6-3, 7-6(4) in 82 minutes to set a quarter-final clash with sixth seeds Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin. The Frenchmen advanced with a 7-6(6), 7-6(3) win over Robin Haase and Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

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Ahead of the all-Madrid @ChampionsLeague showdown, @BrunoSoares82, @jamie_murray and @danielnestor ditched the rackets!#UCL #MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/6DfHLr7LaH

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 10, 2017

Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo needed just 64 minutes to advance 6-3, 6-4 over Brian Baker and Nicholas Monroe. The fourth seeds await the winner of the match between seventh seeds Ivan Dodig/Marcel Granollers and Fabio Fognini/Treat Huey.

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