BEIJING, October 4, 2019
Dominic Thiem advanced to the semi-finals of the China Open and is only one win away from booking his spot at the Nitto ATP Finals in London in November. The top seed from Austrian defeated Andy Murray, who appeared in the stage of the final eight at an ATP Tour event for the first time in more than a year, 6-2, 7-6(3).
Thiem sent down seven aces and won 87 per cent of his first-service points to prevail after one hour and 54 minutes.
Test passed ✅@ThiemDomi successfully navigates the Murray challenge 6-2 7-6(3) to set a semi-final date with Khachanov.#ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/3wi9nOl5XB
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 4, 2019
“I had a great percentage on the first serve,” Thiem said in a post-match press conference. “Then I was also playing well the following shots because I was most of the time in the offense because of the good serves.”
Thiem will next take on Karen Khachanov of Russia. The No. 4 seed battled past sixth seeded Italian Fabio Fognini 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 in one hour and 46 minutes.
Murray with good week in Beijing
Currently ranked World No. 503, Murray has been the lowest-ranked quarterfinalist on the ATP Tour since unranked Steve Darcis reached the 2019 Pune semi-finals.
“I think there were some really good points in the match, like at the beginning of the match some really good points [and] also at the end,” said Murray, quoted on the ATP Tour website.
“I was a little bit unsure kind of how to go about the match at the beginning… I was feeling a little bit tired this morning. We talked about maybe, ‘If you are feeling that way, try to finish off some of the points’… I wasn’t that happy with the way I went about the match after the first game. I went a bit off track there at first, in terms of how I was playing. The week overall was good.”
Later on Friday, Alexander Zverev edged past US-American Sam Querrey 7-6(2), 6-2. The No. 2 seed from Germany withstood 15 aces and broke his opponent’s serve two times to secure victory in one hour and 12 minutes. Zverev will play Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-finals in Beijing. The No. 3 seed from Greece overcame big-serving John Isner from the United States 7-6(3), 6-3 after one hour and 12 minutes.
