Dominic Thiem is edging closer to a home title in Kitzbühel

Dominic Thiem is edging closer to a home title after progressing into the semi-finals of the Austrian Open in Kitzbühel.

The top seed and world number four produced a straight-sets victory over Spain's Pablo Andujar 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 to move within two victories of a securing an ATP Tour trophy on home soil.

It took Thiem just an hour and 44 minutes to maintain his unbeaten record over Andujar and the result moves him into the semi-final stage of the ATP 250 tournament for the third time in his career.

Lorenzo Sonego will be the Austrian's semi-final opponent after the 24-year-old upset the third seed Fernando Verdasco 6-4 6-4.

Sonego won 82 per cent of his first-serve points against his opponent and the victory moves him into just his second tour-level semi-final.

In the bottom half of the draw, Albert Ramos-Vinolas will play 20-year-old Norwegian Casper Ruud for a place in Saturday's final.

Spaniard Ramos-Vinolas saw off France's Jeremy Chardy 6-3 6-4 to continue a fine run of form that's seen him win 11 of his past 12 matches.

Ruud, who is bidding for his first ATP Tour title. knocked out Uruguayan fourth seed Pablo Cuevas 6-3 7-6 (7-4).

Ramos-Vinolas and Ruud have met each other twice previously in their careers. Both meetings have been on clay and the Spaniard prevailed on both occasions.

At the Los Cabos Open in Mexico, Taylor Fritz upset top seed Fabio Fognini 6-1 7-6 (7-1) to reach the semi-finals and was content with his performance,

"I think I'm playing my best tennis. I've found a level of consistency where it's still pretty high even when I'm not playing my best," said Fritz after victory.

"This is what I train for. All the stuff I do in the gym and on the practice court is way harder than anything that could be replicated in a match."

The American is now at a career-high ranking of 28 in the world and will be facing-off against Radu Albot.

Albot surged into the final four with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis for his 25th tour-level win of the season.

The other semi-final will see Guido Pella, who beat qualifier Soonwoo Kwon 4-6 6-1 6-2, take on the third seed Diego Schwartzman.

The 26-year-old eased past Mikhail Kukushkin 6-1 6-2 and has dropped just eight games to reach this point in the tournament.