FIFTH seed Croatian Borna Coric has narrowly escaped against last remaining Brazilian hope, Thiago Seyboth Wild in three sets to book a spot in the quarter finals at Rio.

Coric took two hours and 19 minutes to fend off the determined Brazilian wildcard at the Rio Open, winning 6-3 1-6 7-6 with a 7-5 third set tiebreaker eventually determining the result. While the world number 32 is ranked almost 200 places higher than the 204th ranked Seyboth Wild, both players were up for the challenge in a high intensity match. It all seemed to be going to plan for the former top 20 player, but Seyboth Wild had other ideas in the second set, storming away to level the scores. Neither player gave an inch in the tense final set, with Coric eventually getting it done in a thrilling tiebreaker. The Brazillian was actually more prolific on serve and upon return with higher ratings in both areas, but he could not essentially win the big points, breaking five times – three of which came in the second set – to Coric’s massive nine breaks from 12 chances.

Coric now takes on Lorenzo Sonego who won through to the quarter finals with a 7-6 7-6 win (both 7-5 tiebreakers) over a very unlucky, second seed Dusan Lajovic. In other results, Italian qualifier Gianluca Mager got the better of Portuguese qualifier, Joao Domingues to move through to the next round to tackle number one seed, Dominic Thiem who had to overcome a first set deficit to knock off Spaniard, Jaume Munar, 6-7 6-3 6-4.

ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:

[1] D. Thiem (AUT) defeated J. Munar (ESP) 6-7 6-3 6-4
L. Sonego (ITA) defeated [2] D. Lajovic (SRB) 7-6 7-6
[5] B. Coric (CRO) defeated [WC] T. Seyboth Wild (BRA) 6-3 1-6 7-6
[Q] G. Mager (ITA) defeated [Q] J. Domingues (POR) 6-3 7-6