MADRID, May 12, 2018

Dominic Thiem secured his first win over Kevin Anderson in the pair’s seventh meeting to reach the final of the Mutua Madrid Open. The 24-year-old Austrian won 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday afternoon.

Thiem saved all three break points he faced, converting three of his eight own chances to prevail after one hour and 25 minutes. The No. 5 seed advanced to the title match at the Caja Mágica for the second straight year, continuing his quest for a maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown.

Second straight Madrid final!@ThiemDomi impressive against Anderson 6-4 6-2. #MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/75NYB4MVpv

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) 12. Mai 2018

“It gave me a huge boost of confidence. That’s for sure,” Thiem said of his quarterfinal win over Nadal on Friday. “But at the same time, it was a completely different matchup today. There was also the fact that I never beat him. It was 0-6 before today. Some things were a little bit shaky.

“I was keeping my level up from yesterday, so that was a great thing. The way I started was also well. Even though I played really different, I was returning very far back today. Yeah, almost everything worked out. To beat him 4 and 2, it’s a very good result.”

In his second ATP Masters 1000 final Thiem will take on either No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev or #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who will go head-to-head later in the evening.