The 17-time ATP titlist, Dominic Thiem, fiercely battled from a set down to edge World No. 67 Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, progressing into the semifinals at the ATP 250 tournament Generali Open Kitzbuhel on Thursday.
In his on-court interview, the local hero commented about one of his best matches of the season: “It was another great, great night here. The first game was horrible, but from then on, it was really good against an opponent who is playing great tennis at the moment.”
Adding: “It’s my first semifinal of the year, and I couldn’t have chosen a better place.”
Previous to his home event, the 29-year-old had last moved through a tour-level semifinal in October 2022 at the European Open held in Antwerp, Belgium.
Next, Thiem will face fifth seed Laslo Djere for a place in the championship match.
Last week, the Serbian made it through the final at the Hamburg European Open, falling to home star Alexander Zverev in straight sets.
The other semifinal will feature an all-Argentine duel between top seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry and World No. 72 Sebastian Baez, who is yet to drop a set at the Kitzbuhel Tennis Club.
Thus far, Thiem has enjoyed a dream run on home soil, albeit on the way to the last four, a bumpy road would demand nothing but to leave it all on the court. And to protect his dream, he delivered inspiring comeback performances.
Pushed to the edge by his adversaries, the former world number three overpowered his opponent to achieve the biggest win of his season, delighting the local crowd.
“Everything is coming together here. The incredible support of the home crowd is something I can rely on every single match, which is such a huge advantage for me. I also have a lot of experience playing here. It’s my 13th or 14th time. I am super happy to be in the last four,” he remarked after the contest against Rinderknech.
The resilient Austrian player dropped a set in two of the three matches he has contested at the event, showing he is mentally and physically fit for the occasion, despite the slow starts.
On Wednesday, the 2019 champion rallied from a set down to overcome in-form Chinese player Zhang Zhizhen 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, and reach his third quarterfinal of the year.
On Tuesday, the 2020 U.S. Open winner launched his campaign against Argentine Facundo Bagnis, clinching his 10th match victory this season.
The brutal matchup saw Thiem saving five set points in the opener and two more in the second set tiebreak to wrap up a 7-6(3), 7-6(6) victory, advancing into the second round.
On Friday, he will aim to book a ticket into the final, his first in nearly three years.
Following his triumph over Rinderknech, the World No. 116 is projected to break into the Top 100 next week.
Thiem has been on a comeback trail since sustaining a right wrist injury in June 2021, which brought his season to an abrupt end.
The injury sidelined the 2020 Australian Open runner-up from tour, and as a result, he dropped in the Rankings from a career-high World No. 3 to stand outside of the top 300 by July 2022.
In February 2023, he would pick up his first win of a new season at the Argentina Open, ousting seventh seed Alex Molcan on the red clay, a surface that favors his game style.
However, returning to winning ways would take longer, as it wasn’t until April that he displayed a consistent campaign, leading him to the quarterfinals in Estoril - contesting his 8th tournament of the season, where he lost to Frenchman Quentin Halys.
A few weeks later, he reached the last eight in Munich, falling to American Taylor Fritz.
Those results were his best this year before Kitzbuhel, an event contested on red clay like the ATP 250 staged in Estoril and Munich.
Thiem and World No. 38 Djere are even in their series 1-1; the former won their latest meeting in Tel Aviv in 2022, playing on the hard courts.