Machac advance to the quarter finals in Vienna

Tomas Machac advanced to the quarter-finals at the 2024 Erste Bank Open after completing a turnaround against Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday.

The Czech handed Grigor Dimitrov a major setback in his quest to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals after to prevailing 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3, in an absorbing second-round clash in Vienna.

Dimitrov appeared to be mounting a gutsy comeback at the beginning of the deciding set, but Machac found a burst of energy to cross the line in two hours, 29 minutes.

“It was a great match and I am really happy that I could play against him, because I was watching him a lot on the TV when I was young,” said Machac, who triumphed in the pair’s maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.

“I am really happy with my performance and I think that both players [played well].”

Dimitrov, who leads the Tour in indoor wins in 2024 (11-5), remains 10th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, trailing eight-placed Andrey Rublev by 570 points.

Machac will next face Jack Draper, who wasted little time in advancing to his 16th tour-level quarter-final as he breezed past Luciano Darderi in just 76 minutes.

The seventh seed, who won 7-5, 6-1, was particularly dialled in on serve throughout the encounter, during which he won 91 per cent (31/34) of points behind his first delivery, according to Infosys ATP Stats.