Thiem Cruises Into Rio Semis

Second seed Dominic Thiem continued his dominant form on Friday at the Rio Open presented by Claro, sweeping into his first ATP World Tour semi-final of the year with a convincing 6-2, 6-3 win over Diego Schwartzman.

Thiem wasted no time getting down to business, keeping Schwartzman on the defence with his returns and racing through 11 of the first 13 games. The Argentine provided a late surge by breaking Thiem twice to go on a three-game run, but the Austrian calmly responded by breaking Schwartzman to love to advance in one hour and 15 minutes.

Thiem improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Schwartzman to 3-0 and scores his second straight win over the Argentine in Rio, having also prevailed in last year’s second-round clash. He also matches his semi-final finish in last year’s tournament.

Next up for the Austrian is fifth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who ended the inspired run of Argentine qualifier Nicolas Kicker 6-2, 6-3. The Spaniard has been on a hot streak this month, reaching the semi-finals in Quito and quarter-finals in Buenos Aires.

“It’s my first semi-final at a 500 tournament, so I’m very happy,” said Ramos-Vinolas. “I’m playing at a good level at the moment on clay and hope to keep it going for the next round.”