Dominic Thiem has accomplished a lot in 2019: winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells, reaching his second Grand Slam final at Roland Garros, triumphing in Barcelona for the first time and plenty more. And on Thursday, the World No. 4 moved to within two wins of capturing his maiden ATP Tour trophy at home in Austria.

Thiem defeated Spaniard Pablo Andujar 7-6(4), 6-4 in one hour and 44 minutes to reach the semi-finals of the Generali Open in Kitzbühel. It is the third time the home favourite has made it this far at the ATP 250 tournament in his eighth appearance since it became a tour-level event in 2011.

The key was success on second serves, as Thiem won 61 per cent of his second-serve points, while Andujar only earned 35 per cent of his. The Austrian broke four times in the match, twice in each set.

The top seed now leads Andujar 3-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, and he will next face seventh seed Lorenzo Sonego, who eliminated third seed Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 35 minutes.

Sonego, at 24, has enjoyed the best season of his career, reaching his first Masters 1000 quarter-final at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters and then earning his first ATP Tour crown at the Turkish Airlines Open Antalya.

The Italian saved four of the five break points he faced against Verdasco, winning 82 per cent of his first-serve points against the Spaniard. Sonego needed a final-set tie-break in each of his first two matches, but he found some of his best tennis to advance to his second tour-level semi-final. He has never previously played Thiem.

#NextGenATP Norwegian Casper Ruud continued his pursuit of a trip to the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan from 5-9 November, beating fourth seed Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 7-6(4) in one hour and 36 minutes.

Ruud has played just one match each on hard court and grass court this season, losing both, but the 20-year-old has shone on clay. The World No. 65 is now 17-7 on the surface in 2019, reaching his first ATP Tour final in Houston on the red dirt.

Ruud will try to make another championship match when he battles Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who moved past Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-4 in one hour and 15 minutes. The Spaniard has rounded into form, winning 11 of his past 12 matches, including a title last week at the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad.

Ramos-Vinolas has beaten Ruud in their two previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings, which both came on clay. The lefty won all five sets they played.

Stefanos Tsitsipas wanted to be alone. Greece’s #NextGenATP star had lost in the first round of Wimbledon, a five-setter to Italy’s Thomas Fabbiano in which Tsitsipas had three break points early in the fifth set but converted none.

The 20-year-old locked himself in his London room for three days. He spent time on his computer and read books. That’s it.

“I thought about this match a lot,” he said on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. “I was very upset.”

But Tsitsipas didn’t exclusively turn to fantasy fiction or a topic that would let him completely think about something other than tennis. Tsitsipas read the novel The Alchemist and a book on his tennis idol, Roger Federer.

“I was reading an autobiography [by] another journalist concerning the life of Roger Federer. One really interesting book about him,” Tsitsipas said. “The details in there are pretty accurate.”

Eventually, though, Tsitsipas did step away from the sport, going on a two-week vacation. “I think that was very important to refuel, recharge my batteries coming in here,” he said.

The World No. 6 returned to his winning ways on Stadium Court at the Citi Open, an ATP 500 event, beating home favourite Tommy Paul of the U.S. 6-3, 7-5 to make the third round. Tsitsipas advanced to the semi-finals last year in Washington before falling to eventual champion Alexander Zverev of Germany.

“I was a bit nervous in the beginning. Didn’t know what to expect. I’m really happy that I got through that first match. It was quite a challenging match,” Tsitsipas said.

On Monday, he and Aussie Nick Kyrgios joined forces for the first time, playing doubles against the No. 1 ranked team in the world, Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah. The reigning Wimbledon champions beat Kyrgios/Tsitsipas, but the extra match time hasn’t hurt either of them. Kyrgios also reached the third round with a 6-4, 7-6(5) win against Gilles Simon.

“I think that released some pressure out of me compared to if I wouldn’t have played doubles,” Tsitsipas said.

The pair plan to play together again at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, which begins 11 August. In Washington, Tsitsipas will next meet Aussie Jordan Thompson, who fought past German Jan-Lennard Struff 6-7(8), 6-4, 7-5.

Fabio Fognini has never successfully defended an ATP Tour title, but he moved closer to doing just that at the Abierto de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex in Los Cabos. The top seed shook off a slow start on Wednesday to win his opening match over Spaniard Marcel Granollers 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Fognini dropped the first four games against Granollers before he began to dial in from the baseline. The top seed broke twice in each of the last two sets to advance in two hours and nine minutes. Fognini, who improved his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Granollers to 4-4, currently sits at a career-high ATP Ranking of No. 9.

Awaiting the Italian in the quarter-finals is fifth-seeded American Taylor Fritz, who continued his top form by rallying to defeat Indian Prajnesh Gunneswaran 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Fritz finished runner-up last week at the BB&T Atlanta Open (l. to de Minaur) and has won 11 of his past 13 matches. The 21-year-old, who clinched his maiden ATP Tour title this June at the Nature Valley International (d. Querrey), is at a career-high ATP Ranking of No. 28.

Third seed Diego Schwartzman made his Los Cabos debut a memorable one as he raced through the last nine games of his match with Latvian Ernests Gulbis to reach the quarter-finals 7-5, 6-0. Schwartzman dropped just 10 points in the second set.

Next up for him is eighth-seeded Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin, who defeated Cameron Norrie 7-5, 7-5. The Brit served for both sets at 5-4, but Kukushkin fought back to advance in one hour and 35 minutes. The 31-year-old is enjoying a career-best season that includes a runner-up finish in Marseille (l. to Tsitsipas) and advancing to the second week at Wimbledon. Kukushkin and Schwartzman are even in their FedEx ATP Head2Head at 1-1, but haven’t played in two years. 

Second-seed Guido Pella opened his Los Cabos campaign in style by moving past Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-2 for his eighth ATP Tour quarter-final of the year. Pella went on a six-game run to lead 5-0 in the second set before closing out the match in 71 minutes. The 29-year-old Argentine won his maiden ATP Tour crown this March in Sao Paulo (d. Garin) and reached a career-high ATP Ranking of No. 21 in May.

Awaiting Pella is South Korean qualifier Soonwoo Kwon, who took out Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 for his first ATP Tour quarter-final. The 21-year-old has primarily competed on the ATP Challenger Tour and picked up two titles this season. Kwon, currently No. 112 in the ATP Rankings, will become the third South Korean to crack the Top 100 if he can reach the semi-finals this week.

Seventh-seeded Moldovan Radu Albot scored seven breaks of serve in dispatching Japanese Taro Daniel 6-1, 6-2. He’ll take on Australian wild card Thanasi Kokkinakis, who continued his love affair with Los Cabos by upsetting fourth-seeded Frenchman Lucas Pouille 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. Injuries have limited Kokkinakis to five events this season, but both of his career ATP Tour quarter-finals have come at this event. The Aussie finished runner-up here in 2017 (l. to Querrey).

Stefanos Tsitsipas had to hit one, two and sometimes three winners to put away Tommy Paul during their second-round match on Wednesday. But Greece’s #NextGenATP star stayed patient and persistent to move past the 22-year-old 6-3, 7-5 at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C.

The top-seeded Tsitsipas, 20, erased three break points in the fifth game and then promptly broke Paul before taking the opener. Paul, playing at a career-high ATP Ranking of No. 128, made the Washington quarter-finals in 2017 and had three match points against Kei Nishikori for a semi-final spot.

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But he couldn’t capitalise on his chances against the World No. 6 Tsitsipas, who made the semi-finals in Washington a year ago (l. to Zverev). Paul broke for 5-3 in the second set but couldn’t serve it and lost the final four games of the match. Tsitsipas will next meet Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff or Aussie Jordan Thompson.

Eighth seed Milos Raonic, the 2014 champion, dropped only two first-serve points (26/28, 93%) in a 6-1, 6-4 victory against American qualifier Tim Smyczek.

Raonic will face Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk, who ended Alex de Minaur’s four-match winning streak 6-3, 7-6(6). The #NextGenATP Aussie won his second ATP Tour title on Sunday at the BB&T Atlanta Open (d. Fritz).

Nick Kyrgios has yet to drop a set in reaching the third round. The 24-year-old Aussie delivered 24 aces and beat French veteran Gilles Simon 6-4, 7-6(5). Kyrgios will meet the winner between seventh seed David Goffin and Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.

Two of the most memorable matches of the 2019 season captured fans in July. Roger Federer prevailed past Rafael Nadal during their 40th FedEx ATP Head2Head matchup to make the Wimbledon final, but Novak Djokovic had the final smile of the fortnight when he saved two match points to beat Federer and win back-to-back Wimbledon crowns.

Below, ATPTour.com remembers five of the most popular stories from the month of July.

1. Federer Beats Nadal, Sets Sights On Ninth SW19 Title
From 12 July: Roger Federer booked a place in his 12th final at The Championships, where he will attempt to lift a record-extending ninth trophy, after a tactical masterclass against his long-time rival Rafael Nadal, a two-time former titlist, on Friday at Wimbledon.

The Swiss superstar played at his aggressive best on return of serve, at the net and in long rallies to beat World No. 2 Nadal 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in their semi-final, which lasted three hours and two minutes, on Centre Court.

Federer seized the momentum in his 40th FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting against Nadal with a break of serve at 3-1 in the third set and, in spite of an early break in the fourth set, kept 18-time Grand Slam championship winner Nadal at bay before converting his fifth match point chance. It was their first grass-court clash since their legendary 2008 Wimbledon final, which Nadal won 9-7 in the fifth set.

“It’s always very, very cool to play against Rafa here, especially [as we] haven’t played [here] in so long,” said Federer. “It lived up to the hype, especially from coming out of the gates, we were both playing very well. Then, the climax at the end, with the crazy last game, some tough rallies there. It had everything at the end, which was great, I guess. I’m just relieved it’s all over at this point.”

2. Djokovic Beats Federer: How The Final Was Won
From 14 July: World No. 1 Novak Djokovic captured his fifth crown at The Championships, Wimbledon, on Sunday with a thrilling 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(4), 4-6, 13-12(3) victory over second seed Roger Federer, the eight-time former titlist from Switzerland, in four hours and 55 minutes on Centre Court. Federer had two championship points at 8-7, 40/15 on serve, in the fifth set that lasted two hours and two minutes.

It was the third major championship match that Djokovic saved two match points to beat Federer (also 2010 US Open semi-finals and 2011 US Open semi-finals). It was the first time since the 1948 Wimbledon final — American Robert Falkenburg beat John Bromwich of Australia 7-5, 0-6, 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, after being three match points down — that a player had been championship points down and won.

3. Berrettini Asks Federer How Much He Owes For Tennis Lesson
From 8 July: World No. 20 Matteo Berrettini is getting his wallet out.

After Roger Federer punched a forehand volley into the open court to complete his straight-sets victory, the Swiss congratulated the Italian on a strong grass-court season, leading Berrettini to come back with a witty response.

“I said, ‘Thanks for the tennis lesson, how much do I owe you?’”

Federer lost only 11 service points in the match, cruising to victory after 74 minutes on the back of 24 winners. The 37-year-old made just five unforced errors in the match.

“I think for sure I didn’t play my best match, but he was just too good for me today. He was playing good and I was kind of tight, also,” Berrettini said. “Before the match I was ready for that stuff, and also when he started to play like this, for me, it was really tough to do anything.”

4. Nadal Gains Revenge Against Kyrgios At Wimbledon
From 4 July: Nick Kyrgios brought underhand aces, tweeners and blistering exchanges. But Rafael Nadal absorbed them all to earn another Grand Slam milestone on Thursday at Wimbledon.

Two-time champion Nadal held off an in-form Kyrgios 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3) on Centre Court to reach the Wimbledon third round and become only the ninth player in the Open Era to earn 50 wins at SW19 (50-11).

“Been a tough match obviously against a very tough opponent… Very happy the way that I hold the pressure. Very happy the way I played the tie-breaks with the right determination,” Nadal said

5. Djokovic Matches Federer On Big Titles Leaderboard
From 15 July: Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer for his fifth Wimbledon title on Sunday, and now the Serbian is dangerously close to also surpassing Federer on the all-time “Big Titles” leaderboard.

Djokovic saved two match points to beat the eight-time champion in an epic final, 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(4), 4-6, 13-12(3), the first fifth-set tie-break in Wimbledon singles history.

The 32-year-old won his 16^th Grand Slam crown and 54^th Big Title, a combination of Grand Slam, Nitto ATP Finals and ATP Masters 1000 titles.

Federer, the all-time Grand Slam championships leader with 20, still has four more major victories than Djokovic, and the Swiss has celebrated one more Nitto ATP Finals title (six) than the Serbian (five). But Djokovic has won five more Masters 1000 titles (33-28), creating the tie atop the Big Titles leaderboard.