Ninth seed Dominic Thiem produced a masterclass of a hard court match to defeat fifth seed Kevin Anderson 7-5, 6-2, 7-6 (4) in the fourth round of the US Open.
The Austrian never faced a break point in defeating the South African for the second time in eight career meetings. Thiem advances to his first quarterfinal at a major outside of Roland Garros.
The 23-year old will next face top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal in the last eight, a rematch of the final in Paris, won by the Spaniard in straight sets to capture his 11th French crown.
Thiem leaves it late to take the opening set
The first five points of the match were taken by Anderson before Thiem was able to find his bearings and pushed the South African to deuce on his second service game before Anderson held for a 2-1 lead.
The Austrian was holding with ease, losing just one point over his first four service games while continuing to apply the pressure on the Anderson serve, but was yet to find the breakthrough, last year's finalist holding for a 5-4 advantage.
The ninth seed set up two break points with a beautifully angled volley, but he was denied. Finally, at the fourth time of asking, an excellent forehand gave Thiem a 6-5 lead. Serving for the set, he lost the first point, but clinched the lead when Anderson was unable to meet a strong serve.
Austrian dominates second set to move to brink of victory
The fifth seed, who reached the Wimbledon final just two months ago, was in immediate trouble to start the second set, facing triple break point and a loose forehand error gave Thiem a quickfire lead.
With how well the Austrian was playing, especially on his serve, it was going to be a difficult task to mount a comeback, but Anderson settled down, a couple of holds slicing the deficit to 4-2.
The seventh game ended any hopes of a comeback in the set, Thiem breaking with some sizzling play on his forehand wing to take a 5-2 double break lead. That was the shot that sealed a two-set lead after just 90 minutes of action.
Ninth seed advances to last eight with strong tiebreaker
The third set was the closest of the match, neither player troubled on serve through the first six games. The first chance fell to the Austrian, who held a break point in the seventh game only to see Anderson erase it.
The two men held from that point on to force a tiebreaker where Thiem ran away with the last five points to cap a most impressive performance. “It was one of my best matches ever,” he said following the match.
“For sure, also, this court helped me. It's very, very big. I could go far back at the return, which helped me, which is a little bit like on clay, and this was also a little bit of an advantage today.”