Thiem beats top seed Hurkacz in Antwerp quarterfinals

Thiem will face American Sebastian Korda in the first semifinal while the second semifinal will be between Frenchman Richard Gasquet and Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime.

FILE PHOTO: Austrian tennis player Dominic Thiem.

Austria’s Dominic Thiem saved three match points in a thrilling a 3-6, 7-6 (9), 7-6 (4) win to oust No. 1 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland in the quarterfinals of the European Open on Friday in Antwerp, Belgium.

Thiem, who claimed the 2020 US Open but hasn’t won since then due in part to a wrist injury, absorbed Hurkacz’s 17 aces and won 51 of his 63 first-service points (81 percent).

“This victory especially is unbelievable because it’s my first victory over an almost-Top 10 guy in my comeback process,” Thiem told atptour.com after the win.

He staved off Hurkacz when the Pole held a 6-4 lead in the second-set tiebreaker. Neither player broke serve in the third set before Thiem cruised in the tiebreaker.

In the semifinals, Thiem will be up against Sebastian Korda of the US. The other semifinal will be between Frenchman Richard Gasquet and Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Berrettini reaches semifinals in Naples

Local favourite Matteo Berrettini reached the semifinals of the ATP250 event in Naples with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Japan’s Taro Daniel.

Another Italian, Lorenzo Musetti, also made it to the last-four stage after beating Colombian Daniel Galan 6-3, 6-0.

Berrettini and Musetti will be up against American Mackenzie McDonald and Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, respectively in the semifinals.

Ruusuvuori stuns Tiafoe in Stockholm quarterfinals

Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori stunned US Open semifinalist Frances Tiafoe in the quarterfinals of the ATP250 event in Stockholm.

Ruusuvuori raced to a 6-1, 6-2 win over world number 17 Tiafoe in just 64 minutes.

Ruusuvuori will face top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, who overcame a tough challenge from Swede Mikael Ymer to win 7-5, 6-3, in the semis.

The other semifinal will be between Danish teenager Holger Rune and Australia’s Alex de Minaur.

(With inputs from Reuters)