Thiem ‘Almost Perfect’ In Acapulco

Former champion Dominic Thiem looked like a hard-court king on Wednesday. The 2016 Abierto Mexicano Telcel champion dismissed #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-2, 6-3 in just 75 minutes.

The third seed won 77 per cent of his service points and didn’t face a break point. Thiem also benefitted from 20 unforced errors from the left-handed Shapovalov.

“I’m very happy because… everybody knows how good he can play and how dangerous he is, but I kept him kind of down from the first point on, and it was really good,” Thiem said. “I was really on from the first point… Today was almost perfect.”

The Austrian has won nine ATP World Tour titles – seven of which have come on clay. He will next meet Spain’s David Ferrer or Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, who play the final evening match on Cancha Central in Mexico.

Reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion Hyeon Chung kept winning. The South Korean dropped only four games and didn’t face a break point against 21-year-old American Ernesto Escobedo, moving into the quarter-finals 6-3, 6-1. It’s already Chung’s fourth quarter-final of the season – ASB Classic, Australian Open, Delray Beach Open.

Chung will next face France’s Adrian Mannarino or Kevin Anderson of South Africa, the fifth seed who’s playing at a career-high ATP Ranking of No. 8.

American Jared Donaldson, who also played at the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals last November in Milan, also dropped only four games against Aussie Matthew Ebden 6-3, 6-1. Donaldson reaches his first quarter-final of the year, and will next meet either Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis or Feliciano Lopez of Spain.