Reborn Dominic Thiem maintained his fine form on Europe’s indoor hard courts on Thursday at the European Open in Antwerp, where the Austrian rallied to a tense 6-1, 1-6, 7-5 win over Francisco Cerundolo.
After Thiem made a flying start in the pair’s second-round clash in Belgium, sixth-seeded Cerundolo looked to have taken control when he broke Thiem’s serve for 4-3 in the deciding set . The former world No. 3 roared in style, however, keeping his composure to win four of the next five games and seal a hard-fought victory by two hours and seven minutes.
“That’s why I work hard every day, to be able after two hours with a very tight score, to play good shots, to play good tennis, because that’s where it matters most,” Thiem said after the match. “At 6-5 in the third, you have to find good tennis to be able to take the game over the finish line, and luckily today was my turn.”
More of this, please…@domithiem 🔥 @EuroTennisOpen pic.twitter.com/WDb7AB65uP
– Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 20, 2022
It was a second win over Cerundolo in the space of seven days for Thiem, who beat the Argentine in straight sets in the quarter-finals in Gijon last week. Unlike on that occasion, Cerundolo found a way to halt Thiem’s early momentum and force a decisive set in Antwerp, but the Austrian finished strong to take the win after converting four of his eight break point chances .
“It’s always difficult and interesting to play against someone two weeks in a row,” Thiem said. “It’s a bit strange but I came out playing very well, 6-1 in the first set, but I know he’s a great player so it was obvious in mind too that it wasn’t right. continue like this.
“Then I started the second set badly, he took advantage of it, he entered the net… and the third set was an open game, 50/50. When I was down, luckily right away [I broke back]. It was a very intense and close game.
So far, Thiem’s run in Antwerp has elevated the 17-title tour-level list seven times to 125th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. He will next face top seed Hubert Hurkacz as he tries to reach his third tour-level semi-final in 2022.
“[I’m] 0-3 against him,” Thiem said. “For two years he has been [one of] the best in the world, especially inside. Amazing service, we just played three or four weeks ago in Metz where he had a pretty easy win against me, and hopefully I can make it harder for him tomorrow and be able to take another step forward .
Felix Auger-Aliassime also reached the quarter-finals on Thursday, when the second seed beat lucky French loser Manuel Guinard 6-3, 6-3 to extend his winning streak to five matches.
Champion Florence Auger-Aliassime fired 23 winners and broke his opponent’s serve three times to claim a comfortable 79-minute victory and take on fifth-seeded Daniel Evans in the quarter-finals. The Canadian knows a deep run in Antwerp this week would cement his seventh position in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin as he seeks to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time.
“I try to do my best every time I get on the court,” said Auger-Aliassime, who won both of his ATP Tour titles on indoor hard courts, after his second-round victory. “I’m happy with the way I’ve been playing lately, so hopefully I’ll continue like that throughout the tournament.”
Sebastian Korda and David Goffin also advanced to the quarter-finals with straight-set wins on Thursday. Korda, who reached his third ATP Tour final in Gijon last week, saved four set points in the second set tie-break before claiming a dramatic 7-5, 7-6(9) triumph against fourth seed Karen Khachanov to score a quarter. -Final clash against Yoshihito Nishioka.
Home favorite Goffin beat third seed Diego Schwartzman 7-6(3), 6-2 to reach his fourth quarter-final of the season at tour level. The win avenged Goffin’s 2016 semi-final loss to Schwartzman in Antwerp, where his next opponent will be Richard Gasquet.
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