Rio Open: Dominic Thiem thumps David Ferrer

Dominic Thiem of Austria returns to Spain’s David Ferrer in their Rio Open quarter-final in Rio de Janeiro on Friday. Thiem won 6-3, 6-2. (Photo: AFP)

Former world number one Rafael Nadal reached the Rio Open semi-finals without even hitting a ball on Friday as Aleksandr Dolgopolov withdrew injured from their last-eight tie.

Nadal is playing at the low-key clay court event in a bid to find his form ahead of a tilt at an unprecedented 10th French Open crown in June.

The 29-year-old Spaniard has dropped to number five in the world after an injury-hit 2015 and suffered a shock semi-final defeat to Austria’s Dominic Thiem last week at Buenos Aires, where he was defending champion.

Ukraine’s Dolgopolov was forced to withdraw due to a right shoulder injury.

Nadal will next play in Saturday’s semi-finals against Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas, who defeated Argentina’s Federico Delbonis 6-4, 7-6 (7/4). The match was delayed for 2-1/2 hours with Delbonis leading 4-2 in the second set.

In another match, Thiem upset second seed David Ferrer 6-3, 6-2.

The 22-year-old Austrian won the Buenos Aires title last week and is the youngest player in the ATP’s top 20 rankings.

Thiem will face Guido Pella of Argentina in the semis, who defeated Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 5-7, 6-1, 7-5, but Thiem will be a strong favorite to reach the final.

On the women’s side of the ATP-WTA event, Petra Martic of Croatia defeated sixth seed Lara Arruabarrena 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 to reach the semi-finals.

In another upset in the tournament, Sorana Cirstea of Romania defeated third seed Danka Kovinic 6-1, 6-2 to eliminate the last seeded player from the tournament.