Dominic Thiem beat Sam Groth 7-6, 7-6 on Thursday (9th June) to reach the quarter-finals of the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart.

Dominic Thiem took on Sam Groth for a place in the quarter finals of the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart on Thursday (9th June), in what turned out to be a tight encounter.

The Austrian reached the French Open semis, and he continued to show decent form here.

Groth was playing some decent stuff himself, only losing the opening set via a tiebreak.

The second set was equally as tight, however, Thiem served up an ace to take the match 6-7, 6-7 to move into the quarter finals.

SOUNDBITE (English) Dominic Thiem

"It's been an unbelievably tough and close match. I expected it to be like this. I only had one break point which he saved with an ace. I played two very good tie-breaks and that was the key. I expected a tough match, I sometimes just went left and right in his service games. He's a very tough opponent on grass."