VIENNA, October 25, 2019
Dominic Thiem has reached his first semi-final at the Erste Bank Open in nine main draw appearances at his home event in Vienna. The top seed from Austria was leading Pablo Carreno Busta 5-0 in the first set when the Spaniard was forced to retire from their quarterfinal on Friday afternoon.
“It is always unpleasant when your opponent has to give up. Everyone came to see a great match. I could see it right from the beginning that he wasn’t fit. It got worse and worse and it was clear that he could not finish the match. That was a shame and I felt sorry for him and the spectators,” said Thiem.
The World No. 5 will next take on Matteo Berrettini of Italy, who ended Moscow champion Andrey Rublev’s seven-match win streak after one hour and 52 minutes. The 23-year-old Rome native won 7-5, 7-6(4) and earned a crucial victory in his bid to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals.
Another HUGE win for 🇮🇹 Matteo Berrettini!
With his eighth semi-final appearance of 2019 to come…
Is the Italian on his way to the #NittoATPFinals?
🎥: @TennisTV | @ErsteBankOpen pic.twitter.com/dFPFXrHPat
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 25, 2019
“I am really happy. It was a tough match, mentally and physically,” said Berrettini. “Andrey is playing his best tennis so far. Last week, he won Moscow, so he was feeling confident and I saw it on the court.”
Later in the day, Diego Schwartzman knocked off No. 2 seed Karen Khachanov of Russia 7-6(6), 6-2. The fifth favourite from Argentina won 54 per cent of the total points played to prevail after one hour and 42 minutes. Up next for Schwartzman will be Gael Monfils. The Frenchman defeated Slovenian qualifier Aljaz Bedene 7-5, 6-1. The encounter lasted one hour and 10 minutes.
