Paolo Lorenzi defeated Bernard Tomic 6–7, 7–5, 6–3 in the quarter-final of the ATP 250 event in Quito on clay on 5 February 2016, delivering an upset against the pre-match favourite. Tomic, seeded as the stronger player at odds of 1.83, lost momentum after a competitive opening set that went to a tie-break. Lorenzi, at 2.12 odds, seized control in the second set, breaking serve to edge ahead before consolidating with a decisive third set to advance to the semi-finals. The result marked a significant turnaround for the Italian, who recovered from a set down to secure a valuable clay-court victory against a higher-ranked opponent.