Dominic Thiem realized a dream winning his home title on the clay of Kitzbuhel last week.

The second-seeded Austrian is reaping dream dividends on Montreal's hard courts this week.

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Thiem denied all nine break points he faced snatching a 7-6 (7), 6-4 victory over Marin Cilic to clinch his first Coupe Rogers quarterfinal.

It was Thiem's sixth straight win.

Winless in five prior matches at the Canadian Masters, Thiem attributes his breakthrough week to confidence from his home conquest in Kitzbuhel.

"Well, the last three, four years I didn't play worse than this year, but I just came with low confidence and I came little bit sad to Canada because I didn't play good in my own home tournament where I usually, of course, have a lot of pressure," Thiem said. "This year everything is different. I won this title at home. I made one of my biggest dreams come true.

"Of course, I'm so confident coming here. That's the difference. That's also make the transition pretty easy."

The Indian Wells champion will face eighth-seeded Daniil Medvedev for a spot in the final four. That match is a rematch of the Barcelona final in April, which Thiem won 6-4, 6-0.

"He's having a great season," Thiem said of Medvedev. "First time top 10. I think one of the guys with the most wins, playing every week unbelievable, solid tennis. It's going to be very, very tough match.

"I played him in Barcelona finals, which was of course in my favor because it's clay. I think it's not his favorite surface. Then we had a great, close match in St. Petersburg, which was a very high level. I'll try to see this one again, look what I did great there, try to play similar like that tomorrow."

Photo credit: Christopher Levy