Erste Bank Open Wien: Thiem opponent Rublev - playfully already top 5?
Andrey Rublev challenges defending champion Dominic Thiem at the Erste Bank Open 2020 in Vienna on Friday (second match after 2 p.m., live on ServusTV and in our live ticker ). The Russian has already won four tournaments this year.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Oct 30, 2020, 10:43 am
You can normally assume that the ATP world rankings don't lie: whoever has the most points is the best player over the past twelve months. Who has the eighth most, the eighth best. In the Corona year, however, everything is different, with the frozen points that Roger Federer, who has not played a single tournament match since his semi-finals in Melbourne, cemented in fourth place.
Andrey Rublev is currently in eighth place. If Dominic Thiem has his way, the Russian plays much better than that. For him, Rublev is not just one of the five favorite colleagues on the tour. But also one of the currently five best tennis players in the world. An assessment that ServusTV expert Alex Antonitsch also followed in the current edition of the tennisnet podcast "Quiet, please".
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Zverev wins in Hamburg and St. Petersburg
In fact, Rublev caused a sensation in the weeks after the restart, winning the tournaments in Hamburg and St. Petersburg. Both events of the 500 series, like the first Bank Open in Vienna, where Andrey Rublev will meet Dominic Thiem in the second quarter-finals on Friday after 2 p.m. (live on ServusTV and in our live ticker). At the beginning of the year Rublev had already remained successful in Doha and Adelaide.
The triumph in Hamburg, in which Rublev made a comeback in the final against Stefanos Tsitsipas , the Muscovite had to pay dearly: With a high degree of exhaustion, which then caught up with him in the quarter-finals of the French Open against Tsitsipas. In Vienna, Rublev has so far not let anything burn. However, the tournament meant it very well with him: First it was against qualifier Norbert Gombos, Rublev won 6: 3 and 6: 2. In the round of 16 on Thursday, Jannik Sinner was only able to play three games and then had to retire with a foot injury.
Last meeting with Thiem in Kitzbühel
Rublev sees the record against Dominic Thiem with 1: 2 behind. There was already a meeting in Vienna in 2017, when the Austrian won out. In Monte Carlo in the spring of 2018 it was already tighter. And in 2019 in Hamburg Rublev won for the first time on the ATP tour against Thiem. Like the very last encounter, which is not included in any statistics: in the final of the Thiem's 7 invitation tournament in Kitzbühel this summer. Since Dominic Thiem had defeated his quarter-final opponent from Vienna in the preliminary round.