NEW YORK – Austrian ninth seed Dominic Thiem reached his first US Open quarter-final on Sunday with a 7-5 6-2 7-6 (7/2) win over 2017 runner-up Kevin Anderson.
Thiem, the runner-up to Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros in June, will next face the world number one again if the defending champion gets past Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili in his last-16 clash.
Thiem will be playing in his fourth Slam quarter-final, but first outside of the French Open, where he was a semi-finalist in 2016 and 2017 before this year’s run to the championship match.
“It’s a dream coming true,” said Thiem, who had two match points against Juan Martin del Potro in the fourth round last year, but fell to the Argentine in five sets.
“I was really close last year, I couldn’t close it out,” said Thiem, who offered thanks to an appreciative Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd.
“Last year, whole stadium was full of Argentinians. You guys were on my side, so it was great.”
His progress to the last-eight in New York comes despite choosing to play European claycourt events after Wimbledon before then losing his only summer hardcourt outing in Cincinnati to Stefanos Tsitsipas.
He said the roomy court in the new stadium worked to his advantage as he dealt with Anderson’s big serves.
“I could go far back on the return, which helped me, it’s a little bit like on clay,” said Thiem, who called the victory “one of my best matches ever”.
Straight Sets Sunday: @ThiemDomi powers past Anderson 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 to reach the QF at the #USOpen for the first time in his career! #USOpen pic.twitter.com/pkRG5crBbf
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 2, 2018