GIJON/STARNBERG, October 14, 2022

Dominic Thiem has reached his second ATP Tour semi-final of the season after the Swiss Open in Gstaad in July and moved to within two wins of lifting his first tour-level trophy since 2020. The Austrian wild card entry defeated No. 4 seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina 6-4, 6-3 in the stage of the last eight at the Gijon Open on Friday.

Thiem broke his rival’s serve five times and won 55 per cent of the total points played to secure victory in one hour and 33 minutes.

Jumping for joy!@domithiem takes out Cerundolo 6-4 6-3 to reach his second semi-final of 2022 #GijonOpen pic.twitter.com/iLGwzO0iCt

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 14, 2022

“From the first match on, I have felt great on this court,” Thiem said afterwards. “A lot of control. A super nice atmosphere and I have enjoyed playing a lot since Monday. I am super happy that I am still in the tournament at the weekend and I can play another match. It is very important for me as I am trying to climb up the rankings. The semi-finals at an ATP [Tour] event is helping a lot.”

The 29-year-old will next challenge Andrey Rublev, top seed of the ATP 250 hard-court event in Northern Spain. The World No. 9 of Russia edged past US-American Tommy Paul 7-5, 6-3, hitting  17 winners in one hour and 26 minutes.

In the bottom half of the draw, Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech saved nine match points to knock out hometown hero and No. 2 seed Pablo Carreno Busta 4-6,6-3, 7-6(16) in three hours and four minutes.

UNREAL @arthurrinder saves NINE match points to upset Carreno Busta 4-6 6-3 7-6(16!) and moves into the last 4 in Gijon!#GijonOpen pic.twitter.com/QRa5bEIlWw

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 14, 2022

Rinderknech will next face US-American Sebastian Korda, who edged past Andy Murray from Great Britain 6-4, 1-6, 6-1. The encounter lasted two hours and 27 minutes.