Dominic Thiem saved five match points before sealing his place in the final of the Kitzbuhuel Open on Friday.
The former world No.3 held his nerve to oust Serbia’s Laslo Djere 6-7(3), 7-5, 7-6(8), in what was a marathon battle. Thiem required more than three-and-a-half hours to seal victory in what was the longest best-of-three match he has played on the Tour in his career. He saved all 12 break points faced and won 67% of his service points.
“It was one of my best three-set matches I’ve ever played,” Der Standard newspaper quoted Thiem as saying afterwards. “It was so tight. It was just incredible again.”
Staging fightbacks has become a familiar theme for Thiem at his home tournament. Djere is the third player in a row he has beaten after dropping the first set. He also did so against France’s Arthur Rinderknech in the quarter-finals and China’s Zhang Zhizhen in the second round.
The hard work has paid off for Thiem who is through to his first Tour final since November 2020 when he finished runner-up at the ATP Finals. The result has been a long time coming for the Austrian who struggled with Motivation after winning his maiden major title at the 2020 US Open before suffering a wrist injury that sidelined him for months the following year.
“It’s a very special day, my first final since my wrist injury. I couldn’t be happier to be home.” Thiem commented.
Awaiting him next in Kitzbuhuel will be Argentina’s Sebastian Baez who stunned top seed Tomás Martín Etcheverry 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4, in his semifinal match. It will be the second meeting between the two after Bastad last year when Baez won in three sets.
“I’m very happy, because the last weeks I didn’t have big results, so happy to be in the final,” said Baez.
This week is the fourth time in Thiem’s career he has reached the final of a tournament in his native Austria. He is guaranteed to return to the top 100 next week regardless of if he wins the title or not.
