Thiem Stays Golden In Rio

Dominic Thiem is playing the best tennis of his career.

After beating Rafael Nadal en route to the Buenos Aires title last week, the 22-year-old dismissed second seed David Ferrer 6-3, 6-2 to reach the semi-finals of the Rio Open on Friday night.

“It was one of the best matches I’ve ever played, for sure,” Thiem said. “I’m unbelievably happy to be able to maintain my form from Buenos Aires here in Rio.”

The youngest player in the Top 20 of the Emirates ATP Rankings surrendered the first service break of the match, but was nearly perfect the rest of the way to score his second Top 10 win in as many weeks. He broke Ferrer four times and secured the win in 73 minutes.

Next up for the rising star is Guido Pella, who needed two and a half hours to top Daniel Gimeno-Traver 5-7, 6-1, 7-5 and reach his first ATP World Tour semi-final.

Nadal was slated to face Alexandr Dolgopolov, but advanced to the final four without hitting a ball after the Ukrainian withdrew due to a right shoulder injury. He will take on Pablo Cuevas, who defeated Federico Delbonis 6-4, 7-6(4).