Hometown hero Cristian Garin ousts Dominic Thiem at Chile Open

In a battle between tournament wildcards, Santiago native Christian Garin fought past former World No.3 Dominic Thiem to secure his spot in the round of 16 at the Chile Dove Men+Care Open on Tuesday night.

Garin took advantage of Thiem's inconsistency and lack of form to record a 6-2 7-6(2) victory, employing his reliable groundstrokes to frustrate his opponent. The Chilean quickly secured an early break, much to the delight of the bipartisan crowd. Thiem struggled to develop rhythm, but was hindered by a poor second serve percentage. This led to Garin obtaining a second break, before closing out the first set with ease.

Having struggled in his previous matches on clay, Thiem appeared more focused to start the second set. The 2020 US Open champion faced relentless pressure from his opponent, but staved off six break points to force a tiebreak. it was here that Garin's consistency paid off, as the Chilean, spurred on by his hometown crowd, dominated the tiebreak to run away with the victory after an hour and 43 minutes.

Thiem has slipped down the rankings to 99th after claiming just one singles victory on tour this year, against Alex Molcan at the Argentina Open earlier in February. Since then, he has lost all three matches he played -- in Buenos Aires, at the Rio Open and against home favorite Garin in Chile. Conversely, Garin will next face rising Argentine star Sebastien Baez in the round of 16.