Baez Ends Thiem’s Bastad Run, Faces Rublev In SFs

Sebastian Baez advanced to his third tour-level semi-final Friday, overcoming Dominic Thiem 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-4 in a hard-fought clash at the Nordea Open in Bastad.

The Argentine soaked up Thiem’s heavy ball striking and recovered from squandering a match point on the Austrian’s serve at 5-4 in the second set to eventually advance after two hours and 51 minutes.

“It was such a tough match. So close,” Baez said in his on-court interview. “Dominic played well today and I hope to see more of him because he is a great player, so I hope he can return to the level we know. I am happy I won today and to stay in the tournament.

“I think we both played well today, I enjoyed the fight. The tournament and the grounds are good, so I am happy to stay here. The people are so nice, I feel comfortable. I now need to recover as best as I can.”

The former World No. 3 Thiem earned his first tour-level win in 14 months when he defeated Emil Ruusuvuori in the first round, before he eliminated fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut.

However, the Austrian, who missed the second half of last season due to injury, was unable to cope with Baez’s intensity in the third set, with the 21-year-old triumphing in his first ATP Head2Head meeting against 2020 US Open champion Thiem.

Baez clinched his maiden tour-level title on clay in Estoril in April and is now up to No. 31 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. The Argentine is making his debut in Bastad and will next face second seed Andrey Rublev.

Rublev advanced to the semi-finals with a 7-5, 6-4 win against Laslo Djere in the final match of the day. Djere provided strong resistance for much of the one-hour, 35-minute match, particularly in its final game.

Ultimately, the Serbian could not break Rublev’s serve a second time after doing so to love in his first return game. Djere created four break points as his opponent attempted to serve out the match, but the World No. 8 stood strong to clinch victory on his third match point.

Rublev is through to his sixth tour-level semi-final of the season after improving his record to 6-2 in quarter-finals. Seeking his fourth tour-level title of 2022 (Marseille, Dubai, Belgrade), he also improved to 10-0 at the ATP 250 level on the year.