Rublev Upsets Thiem In Hamburg For Second Top 10 Win

Russia’s Andrey Rublev played with great aggression on Friday to record the biggest win of his career for a place in the Hamburg European Open semi-finals.

The 21-year-old upset two-time Roland Garros finalist Dominic Thiem 7-6(3), 7-6(5) in one hour and 47 minutes at the Am Rothenbaum, venue of the ATP 500 clay-court tournament. It was his second Top 10 win, following on from his victory over then No. 9-ranked Grigor Dimitrov at the 2017 US Open.

World No. 78 Rublev recovered two break deficits in the first set, which saw top seed Thiem serve with a 5-3 lead. Rublev won the first four points of the tie-break and hit a forehand winner to clinch the opener on his second set point chance.

Deep returns from Rublev created an opening in the sixth game of the second set, when his Austrian opponent appeared to be affected by the sunlight. A double fault handed Rublev a break point at 30/40, which Thiem saved with a powerful serve. Rublev didn’t let a mis-timed forehand at 1/2 in the tie-break deter him, as he went on to win five straight points.

Rublev, who missed six weeks of the 2019 ATP Tour season due to a right wrist injury, is 12-9 on the season and will now face third-seed Italian Fabio Fognini or Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain.

Thiem and Fognini are both in the top 10 places in the 2019 ATP Race To London for a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November. Buy Tickets