By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ninth seed Dominic Thiem continued his bid for a first Grand Slam title on Sunday, toppling last year's runner up Kevin Anderson 7-5 6-2 7-6(2) to reach the U.S. Open quarter-finals for the first time.
Thiem, a finalist at this year's French Open, neutralized the 6-foot-8 Anderson's blistering serve by standing far beyond the baseline and he chased down everything the South African could throw at him.
The Austrian played a near flawless match, dropping just four points on his first serve and firing 42 winners.
"One of my best matches ever," Thiem said of his dazzling performance in an on-court interview, calling his quarter-final berth "a dream coming true."
Fifth seed Anderson had won all six of his previous hardcourt meetings against Thiem but on Sunday he struggled to get his legs moving against his younger opponent.
Having surivived two five-set thrillers to reach the fourth round, Wimbledon runner-up Anderson ran out of steam on Sunday and bowed out tamely.
Thiem will next play either world number one Rafael Nadal or Nikoloz Basilashvili.
(Reporting By Amy Tennery, editing by Pritha Sarkar)