Thiem Returns To Hamburg Quarter-finals

Dominic Thiem made it through to the Hamburg European Open quarter-finals for the second straight year on Wednesday, beating Marton Fucsovics 7-5, 6-1.

On a hot Wednesday afternoon, the top seed fired 20 winners and dropped just two points behind his first serve (26/28) to claim victory in one hour and 36 minutes. Thiem claimed eight of nine games from 5-5 in the first set to triumph in the pair’s first FedEx ATP Head2Head encounter.

Thiem improves to 25-10 this season after reaching the last eight in Hamburg. The World No. 4 has lifted two ATP Tour trophies in 2019, capturing his maiden ATP Masters 1000 crown at the BNP Paribas Open (d. Federer) and the ATP 500 title at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell (d. Medvedev).

Thiem quickly found his range on return in front of the Center Court crowd, earning break points in four of Fucsovics’ opening five service games. But the Hungarian remained calm under pressure to reach 5-5.

But, from that point, Thiem reduced his error count and motored to victory. With relentless aggression and depth, the World No. 4 dictated rallies with his forehand and extracted regular errors from his opponent to book a quarter-final clash against Andrey Rublev.

In the opening match on Center Court, Rublev rallied from a set down to defeat #NextGenATP Norwegian Casper Ruud 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. The 21-year-old is through to his first tour-level quarter-final since the Open 13 Provence in February.

Thiem will aim to extend his 2-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head series record against Rublev. The Austrian defeated Rublev in Vienna in 2017 and at last year’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.