Andrey Rublev’s hot streak continued on Friday, when the World No. 8 eliminated defending champion Dominic Thiem 7-6(5), 6-2 at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna.
The Russian struck 30 winners and saved both break points he faced to take his ATP 500 winning streak to 13 matches after one hour and 34 minutes. Rublev is attempting to capture his third straight trophy at the level, following title runs at the Hamburg European Open and the St. Petersburg Open.
Rublev is through to his fifth semi-final of the year. In each of the previous tournaments where he has reached this stage in 2020, he has gone on to lift the trophy. Rublev improved to 37-7 this year with his second ATP Head2Head win against Thiem (tied at 2-2). Only Novak Djokovic owns more wins at tour-level this year (39-2).
Rublev will face Kevin Anderson for a place in the championship match. The 23-year-old is tied at 1-1 in his ATP Head2Head series against the 2018 champion and won his most recent clash against the South African at Roland Garros earlier this month.
Thiem was attempting to extend a winning streak of his own. The US Open champion entered his fourth ATP Head2Head clash against Rublev with an 11-match winning run on home soil. Alongside his Vienna title, Thiem won last year’s Generali Open in Kitzbühel to finish 2019 with a 9-0 record in Austria.
In a first set dominated by serve, Rublev saved the only two break points of the set with powerful serving at 1-1. Both players battled from the baseline in the tie-break, with just one mini-break deciding the outcome of the set. Rublev, who had moved up to court to fire consecutive forehand winners from 3/4, capitalised on a forehand error from his opponent and claimed the opener in 55 minutes.
Rublev made an early breakthrough in the second set, as he pushed Thiem into the tramline with an inside-out forehand and struck a forehand winner up the line to break. The Russian doubled his advantage two games later with consistent depth on his returns, which may have contributed towards Thiem’s double fault on break point. Rublev forced a backhand return error from Thiem to convert his second match point.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/35Mn0dP
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