By Chris Oddo | Thursday October 25, 2018
Dominic Thiem won his 50th match of 2018 and set a heavily anticipated quarterfinal clash with Kei Nishikori at the Erste Bank Open, defeating American Sam Querrey, 6-4, 6-4.
The Austrian won his 19th hardcourt match of the season and matched his career-best performance at his hometown tournament, dropping just four first-serve points and saving all three break points he faced to improve to 3-1 lifetime against Querrey.
Thiem will face Nishikori for the first time on a hardcourt on Friday after the Japanese No.1 powered past Karen Khachanov, 6-2, 6-2, to put himself in position to move ahead of John Isner in the Race to London standings.
Nishikori can pick up 90 points with a quarterfinal win on Friday, and if he gets them he’ll move 25 points clear of Isner and into ninth in the Race. That ninth spot could end up being critical, because if Juan Martin del Potro—out with a fractured kneecap since Shanghai—can’t play the Nitto ATP Finals then No.9 in the race after next week’s Paris Masters will.
Nishikori avenged a loss to Khachanov by the same score earlier this summer on the grass in Halle, and he’ll bid for his sixth semifinal of 2018 on Friday.
Gael Monfils knocked off fourth-seeded John Isner, 6-4, 6-4, to stop the American’s progress in Vienna.
If Nishikori wins the title in Vienna he could stretch his lead to 345 points over Isner.
In other action on Thursday in Vienna, Fernando Verdasco knocked off No.8-seeded Kyle Edmund 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, while Mikhail Kukushkin stopped Andrey Rublev, 7-6(4), 6-4.
The quarterfinal matchups in Vienna shape up as follows: