Friday 26 February 2016 11:34, UK
Fourth-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem won a battle of rising ATP stars in beating Grigor Dimitrov 7-5 6-2 to reach the semi-finals of the Mexico Open.
Thiem, 22 and ranked a career-high world No 15 after lifting the trophy in Buenos Aires a fortnight ago and reaching the semi-finals at Rio de Janeiro last week, broke Dimitrov in the opening game of the second set, and broke again for a 5-2 lead before serving out the win in one hour and 38 minutes.
"Breaking him in the first game of the second set was maybe the deciding moment of this match," Thiem said. "I started to play better and better and the momentum swung to my side.
Thiem will play Sam Querrey for a place in the final after the American beat 18-year-old compatriot Taylor Fritz 2-6 6-4 6-4.
Friday's other semi-final will pit fifth-seeded Australian Bernard Tomic against Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Tomic, playing his fourth quarter-final of the year, edged Ukraine's Illya Marchenko 7-5 7-5 while Dolgopolov cruised past Robin Haase of the Netherlands 6-3 6-3.
Tomic, ranked 21st in the world, broke Marchenko five times.
Dolgopolov, coming off an upset of top seed and defending champion David Ferrer, needed just 64 minutes to subdue Haase and said he'd try to maintain his aggressive mindset against Tomic.
"We've played a lot of times," said Dolgopolov, who has won six of nine career meetings with Tomic. "He's a tricky player. He slices well, he plays all around the court, serves well and breaks up your rhythm. I think it will be on my racquet because I risk a bit more than him in general."
