Dominic Thiem continued the defence of his Open de Nice Cote d'Azur title with a 6-3 6-3 quarter-final triumph over Andreas Seppi.

The top seed signalled his intent from the start, holding to love and breaking at the first opportunity before the remainder of the set went on serve.

It took a little longer for the 22-year-old – a five-time winner on the ATP Tour – to make his mark on the second set and he faced a break point at 2-2, but held and then immediately secured a decisive break.

He will now meet Adrian Mannarino in the last four after the Frenchman overcame Guido Pella 5-7 7-6 (7-4) 6-1.

Alexander Zverev needed just over three hours to finally end the challenge of second seed Gilles Simon in a 6-3 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-1) win.

The German, ranked 48th, booked himself a semi-final showdown with Joao Sousa, who beat Kevin Anderson 7-5 7-5.