Thiem celebrates 27th birthday with US Open win

WASHINGTON - Dominic Thiem of Austria made it a 27th birthday to remember on Thursday when the second seed completed a comprehensive 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 US Open second round victory over India's Sumit Nagal.

"I was playing well today," said Thiem. "I had a good plan for the match. He's very dangerous when he can dictate with his forehand. I was trying to avoid that. He also has very, very fast legs. I was trying to play my fastest tennis to keep him on the backhand, to not let him dictate with the forehand. I did that very well today."

The Austrian will now challenge 2014 champion Marin Cilic of Croatia in the third round. Thiem has a 2-0 lead in their head-to-head series.

"He's one of the big champions of the last decade, one of the very few active players, who won a Grand Slam tournament here in New York," Thiem said of Cilic. "Even though he's not on the top of his game, he's always dangerous for a deep run in these big tournaments. He's not a guy I want to face in the third round as he's a former champion. On a good day, he can beat anybody. It's going to be a real tough one."