Dominic Thiem thrilled home fans with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 comeback charge to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP Kitzbuehel event over Zhang Zhizhen.
The Chinese player known on the Tour as “Triple Zed” was unable to maintain his fast start against Austria’s 2019 US Open winner in a match lasting for an hour and three quarters.
Zhang was coming off a career-first ATP semi-final in Hamburg at the weekend and stands as the highest-ranked player from his nation on No. 52.
Thiem,who lost nine of his first 10 matches this season as he makes a slow comeback to form from a 2021 wrist injury, began his fightback after dropping the opening set in 23 minutes.
The 29-year-old ranked 116 who won the home title in 2019 sent down six aces while breaking his Asian opponent three times.
Thiem blamed some incorrectly strung racquets for his first-set jitters, and quickly corrected the problem as he stormed back to reach the last eight at the Tour level for the first time since last April in Munich.
