Thiem Posts Career-Best Result In Shanghai

Dominic Thiem keeps building momentum ahead of his fourth appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals in London.

Last week’s China Open champion (d. Tsitsipas) won his sixth consecutive match on Wednesday, beating Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6(3), 6-3 to make the third round at the Rolex Shanghai Masters for the first time.

The Austrian had fallen in the second round of the ATP Masters 1000 event the past four years, but the World No. 5 fought off inspired tennis from the Chengdu Open champion to advance.

Carreno Busta had three set points on Thiem’s serve at 4-5, including two consecutively from 15/40. But the Austrian tightened his game to hold and carried the momentum into the tie-break.

In the second set, Thiem secured the lone break of the match during the fifth game when Carreno Busta lifted a backhand long off a skidding backhand slice from Thiem, who finished with 36 winners to 20 unforced errors.

Thiem qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held 10-17 November at The O2 in London, by reaching the China Open final in Beijing last week. He will face Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili for a place in the Shanghai quarter-finals. Basilashvili beat Benoit Paire on Tuesday.

The three-time ATP 500 titlist beat Thiem during their only FedEx ATP Head2Head matchup at the 2017 Sofia Open.