Thiem Steps Up After ‘Horrible’ Start

Former World No. 3 Dominic Thiem rallied from a set down for the second consecutive match to charge into the semi-finals of the Generali Open Thursday.

The hometown hero defeated Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and is now one win away from reaching his first final since the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals almost three years ago. Thiem dropped serve in the opening game but thereafter didn’t face a break point.

“It was another great, great night here. The first game was horrible but from then on it was really good against an opponent who is playing great tennis at the moment,” said Thiem, who last reached an ATP semi-final in Antwerp almost a year ago “It’s my first semi-final of the year and I couldn’t have chosen a better place.

“Everything is coming together here. The incredible support of the home crowd is something I can rely on every single match, which is such a huge advantage for me. I also have a lot of experience playing here. It’s my 13th or 14th time. I am super happy to be in the last four.”

Thiem is looking increasingly confident from the back court and was strong on serve, winning 79 per cent of first-serve points. But he will look to improve his break point conversion ratio moving forward after taking just two of 10 opportunities against Rinderknech.

Thiem lost nine of his first 10 matches in 2023, and came into this tournament No. 116 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. He was 6-5 during the clay swing through Roland Garros but went winless during the grass swing, which included a valiant fifth-set tie-break loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the first round of Wimbledon.

Suffering a tear in his right wrist that forced him to miss nine months from June 2021-March 2022, Thiem is looking for his first title since claiming his lone major at the US Open in September 2020.

Rinderknech came into the tournament high on confidence, having won the Zug Challenger last week in Switzerland.

On Friday Thiem will meet Serbian Laslo Djere, who defeated Argentine Pedro Cachin 6-4, 6-2 to claim his third straight-sets win of the tournament. The fifth seed, who reached the final of the ATP 500 in Hamburg last week, improved to 26-18 on the season. He has already risen five spots this week to No. 33 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

Top-seeded Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry came from a set down to defeat Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-4 to set up a quarter-final meeting with countryman Sebastian Baez, who defeated Slovakian Alex Molcan 6-4, 6-3.