Thiem Stays Unbeaten In Buenos Aires

Dominic Thiem was made to work by Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay on Friday at the Argentina Open, but remained unbeaten (11-0) in Buenos Aires after a hard-fought 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win to reach the semi-finals.

He’ll play fourth seed Diego Schwartzman, who reached his first Buenos Aires semi-final with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain. The Argentine hasn’t lost a set against Ramos-Vinolas in their three FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings. Although he trails Thiem 1-3 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head, Schwartzman won their most recent clash at the 2018 Rogers Cup.

Thiem struggled to find his footing early against Cuevas, who is in fine form after reaching his first semi-final of 2019 last week in Cordoba (l. to Pella). But after dropping the opener, Thiem raised his level and raced to a 3-0 advantage in the second set. The top seed was broken as he attempted to serve out the second set at 5-3, but regrouped with powerful baseline hitting and immediately broke Cuevas in the next game to level the match.

The third set started identically to the second, with Thiem earning an early break of serve with a gorgeous backhand return winner and sprinting to a 3-0 lead. The early momentum was all the Austrian needed and he eventually closed out the match after one hour and 49 minutes. The 25-year-old Austrian improved his FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Cuevas to 3-2. 

Guido Pella delighted the home crowd by erasing four match points to defeat Jaume Munar of Spain 6-7(3), 7-6(9), 6-1. Munar was unable to convert on two match points on his serve at 5-4 in the second set and two more in the tie-break at 6/5 and 8/7. Pella made good on his third set point at 10/9 with a crafty angled forehand and then raced through the remainder of the contest.

The Argentine is playing some of the best tennis of his career, having recorded a runner-up finish last week in Cordoba (l. Londero). He has also pushed himself back into the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings.

Pella will next take on third seed Marco Cecchinato, who prevailed in a grueling baseline battle against Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena 7-6(3), 6-4. Cecchinato won his only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting against Pella this past July in the Umag final.