Erste Bank Open: Dominic Thiem fails because of the strong Andrey Rublev
Andrey Rublev threwDominic Thiem out of the Erste Bank Open in the quarter-finals. The Russian confirmed his impressive condition and won with 7: 6 (5) and 6: 2. ( You can read the live ticker of the game. ) In the semifinals, the eighth place in the world will meet Kevin Anderson .
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Oct 30, 2020, 05:54 pm
By Michael Rothschädl from the Wiener Stadthalle
At every other ATP 500 event in the calendar of the ATP professional traveling circus, such a match-up would only have come about in a possible warm-up. At the Erste Bank Open 2020, Dominic Thiem and Andrey Rublev should already meet in the quarter-finals. The number two against the number five of the tournament, the US Open champion against the four-time tournament winner in the current season.
Dominic Thiem had already spoken of an "extremely difficult task" in advance, calling the Russian one of the current "five best players in the world". Rublev is one of his most frequent training partners on the tour, with his fast and uncompromising game a man with whom you can always find a good rhythm. But if someone shoots off the pitch, he is given control of the game.
Thiem knocks for the first time
Both players started from the baseline at a very high speed, trying at the same time to take their opponent's forehand out of the game as much as possible. In the backhand duels, the local hero initially seemed to have a bit of the upper hand, the Austrian came to two breakballs in the third game of the game, but Rublev was able to thwart each with good serves. The defending champion was meanwhile able to count on very loud support from the stands, despite the fact that the crowd was only very sparsely filled with 1000 spectators.
The forehand of the 23-year-old Rublev, against whom Thiem had warned in advance, did not work in the initial phase with the same standard that had recently brought the world ranking eighth the great successes, time and again, worth seeing winning strokes were followed by avoidable mistakes. Dominic Thiem, on the other hand, missed some half-chances in set one with some avoidable return errors. As a result, none of the players managed to put pressure on the server - a tiebreak had to bring the decision in set one. In this, both players showed their best tennis, Thiem had two chances of the first mini-break, was unlucky once - and made the wrong decision another time with the stop. And so it was Andrey Rublev who grabbed the mini break and was able to use his second set ball with an ace.
Sensational sentence by Andrey Rublev
The Russian, who only made it into the top 10 in the world rankings this week, took this momentum with him into the second set. Rublev didn't allow anything with his own serve, the 23-year-old presented himself wide awake at the Austrian's service games. With a remarkable inside-in forehand, the Russian secured the first break of the match to 2-1 in round two. Now everything came together for the man from Moscow, Rublev had completely eliminated the mistakes from sentence one, Thiem had lost control of the match. The Russian also knocked in the next service game of the world number three, Rublev got the double break with a double fault.
Dominic Thiem no longer worked completely on the matter, repeatedly grabbed his foot. During the match, however, it was not possible to determine whether this was an injury. The experts from the tournament host broadcaster ServusTV assumed a blister on the foot during the broadcast. Thiem should not find a way back into this match, Rublev played a terrific set and did not allow a single break chance. Although the Lichtenwörther was able to fend off a match ball on his own serve, Rublev then closed the sack with his own serve. After a little more than an hour and a half, the 23-year-old made the 7: 6 (5) and 6: 2 victory perfect.
Rublev in the semifinals against Anderson
"I was also a little happy this week, today I was lucky that Dominic had some problems with his foot. It wasn't our best match. I hope he recovers quickly and well for Paris and London," said the young Russian following his success. The world number eight has won his 13th match in a row on the ATP tour.
For Dominic Thiem, a series of seven victories en suite in the Wiener Stadthalle comes to an end. Andrey Rublev, on the other hand, will now meet Kevin Anderson, who surprisingly prevailed against Daniil Medvedev in the first match of the day . In the night session, Novak Djokovic and Lorenzo Sonego as well as Grigor Dimitrov and Dan Evans are fighting for the remaining two places in the semifinals.