Thiem bounces Nadal from Argentina Open clay-court event

Thiem needed one hour, twenty minutes to defeat his Serbian opponent 6-4 6-2. He remains on track to defend his Buenos Aires title and win a 48 title on his favourite surface.

A chastening loss to Novak Djokovic in the final in Doha was followed by a first-round defeat by Fernando Verdasco at the Australian Open.

Monaco had not played a tournament since having right-wrist surgery in August past year. But he closed it out with a crushing inside-out forehand down the line and then broke in the following game to close out the match. “I wasn’t meant to be, and I’ll keep going”, the 29-year-old Nadal said in the post-match press conference.

He had seen off close friend Juan Monaco of Argentina in Thursday’s first round but faced a slightly tougher test Friday when 34-year-old Lorenzi, the world 52, clawed his way back from a 4-1 first set deficit.

But the 14-time major victor, who won the pair’s only other meeting against at Roland Garros in 2014, made the most of his lifeline to break in the 10th game to level the semi-final.

Nadal took time to thank the crowd for their support after beating the world number 19 in temperatures pushing 40 degrees Celsius, and admitted that he is not fully fit at present. I fought to the end.

Cuevas beat Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo 6-4, 6-2 in his second-round match on Thursday.

The Spaniard, who won the Sofia title on Sunday after also triumphing in Auckland last month, claimed his sixth consecutive victory. 6-2 and advanced to the semifinal.

Thiem, the youngest player in the Top 20, prevented Lajovic from winning his first ATP World Tour quarter-final match in eight attempts.

A repeat of that match was to be played yesterday after eighth seed Troicki put out South Korea’s Chung Hyeon 7-6 (7/5), 6-2.