Rising Austrian star Dominic Thiem has dug deep to down Croatian third seed Marin Cilic in the Brisbane International quarterfinals on Friday night, 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4.
The 22-year-old won three tour titles last season to finish ss the youngest player in the top 20 last season.
He saw off the 2014 US Open champion in two hours.
“(It) was a very good match from me,” Thiem said. “Today (was) a big test. (A) bad first set where he destroyed me, but then I’m really happy about the win.”
The win sets up a semifinal match-up with either defending champion Roger Federer or Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov.