BASTAD/STARNBERG, July 14, 2022
Dominic Thiem backed up his first win on the ATP Tour in 14 months with a hard-fought 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4 victory against fourth-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut to reach the quarterfinals at the Nordea Open in Bastad on Thursday. The 28-year-old Austrian converted two of his eight break-point chances and won four points less than his opponent but prevailed after two hours and 40 minutes.
His first ATP quarter-final since Madrid 2021 ✊
A resurgent @domithiem battles past world No.20 Bautista Agut 7-6(5) 3-6 6-4 in Bastad!#NordeaOpen pic.twitter.com/UbJkKASoIa
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) July 14, 2022
“It is great to play here,” Thiem said in his on-court interview. “It is an amazing atmosphere and I am so happy that I won today so I can have at least another match tomorrow. It was really good.
“The win against Emil gave me confidence that I can compete against the best players in the world and today against Roberto. He is always such a tough opponent. I was expecting and hoping it would be a close match. Then when I won the first set in the tie-break I said ‘Hey, I can win today.’ I had the belief until the end of the match and the third set was really good.”
Up next for Thiem will be No. 8 seed Sebastian Baez. The 21-year-old Argentine defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain 6-2, 6-3 in 79 minutes in the last match of the day.
In other action, Andrey Rublev battled past Federico Coria of Argentina 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(2). The second-seeded Russian sent down five aces and won 66 per cent of his first-service points to advance in two hours and 35 minutes. Rublev will next play Laslo Djere of Serbia, who beat Swiss qualifier Marc-Andrea Huesler 7-5, 6-2. The encounter lasted one hour and 23 minutes.
