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Dominic Thiem admitted he was "really happy" after surviving the Sebastian Ofner challenge to reach his third ATP quarterfinal in as many weeks. Thiem, the 2019 Kitzbuhel champion, defeated fellow Austrian Ofner 6-2 3-6 6-3 to progress into the Kitzbuhel quarterfinal.
"It was an unbelievable atmosphere once again. Great afternoon to play tennis again and really happy to get the win. Obviously it was very different conditions to yesterday. It's not easy to make the change and as well against [Ofner], we know each other very well, practising together a lot of times," Thiem said after the win, per the ATP website.
"It was a great, great fight at the end and happy to be through."
Thiem was twice down by a break in the third set
"I don't think there was too much difference in shotmaking. I think there were some small details in the score.
In the third set he was up a break twice and I was able to make the rebreak straight away twice again. If he holds his serve and he goes away in the third set, probably it's going to be a different outcome. But these were the key moments when twice I was able to straight [away] rebreak," Thiem explained.
Thiem got off to a fast start to the match, breaking Ofner twice to easily win the first set. After losing the first set, Ofner claimed his first break of the match in the sixth game of the second set and then held on to his serve the rest of the set to force a decider.
At the start of the third set, four consecutive breaks were seen as the two players were tied to two games apiece after the first four games. After serving out the fifth game to open a 3-2 lead, Thiem broke Ofner in the eighth game for a 5-3 lead - before serving out for the match in the following game. Thiem plays Yannick Hanfmann in the Kitzbuhel quarterfinal.