Thiem beaten in bid to reach career-best third in world

Mager, a 128th-ranked qualifier playing in only his eighth career tour-level match, defeated 2017 Rio champion Thiem 7-6 (7/4), 7-5.

Published : Feb 23, 2020 00:19 IST

Dominic Thiem was down a set and a break against Mager when the match was interrupted by rain on Friday.
Dominic Thiem was down a set and a break against Mager when the match was interrupted by rain on Friday.
lightbox-info

Dominic Thiem was down a set and a break against Mager when the match was interrupted by rain on Friday.

World number four Dominic Thiem of Austria missed a chance to reach a career-best third in the ATP rankings with a Rio Open quarterfinal loss Saturday to Italy's Gianluca Mager.

Mager, a 128th-ranked qualifier playing in only his eighth career tour-level match, defeated 2017 Rio champion Thiem 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 in a match that was halted on Friday by rain.

READ |

Had Thiem reached the semifinals in his 2020 clay-court debut, he would have overtaken Roger Federer for third in Monday's ATP rankings.

Thiem was down a set and a break when rain stopped the match Friday with Mager leading 7-6 (7/4), 2-1.

Mager served for the match in the ninth game of the second set but Thiem broke to pull level at 5-5, only to have the Italian claim the final two games and the match after one hour and 55 minutes on the court.

Mager booked a semifinal date later on Saturday against the winner of another rain-halted Friday match between 133rd-ranked Spanish qualifier Pedro Martinez and Hungary's 106th-ranked lucky loser Attila Balazs.

Martinez led Balazs 6-2, 2-2 when play was stopped.

Saturday's other semifinal pits Chilean third seed Cristian Garin and fifth-seeded Borna Coric of Croatia.

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment