By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday October 29, 2020
Four of the top five seeds in the stacked draw at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna have made it through to Friday’s quarterfinals, but Stefanos Tsitsipas will not be one of them, thanks to a spirited effort from Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov on Friday night in Vienna.
The World No.20 notched his first Top 5 victory of 2020 with a comeback effort against the fifth-ranked and third-seeded Greek, overcoming adversity in the first set and eventually rallying for a 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 victory in two hours and 13 minutes.
The victory was made more special by the fact that Dimitrov kept his wits about him after blowing a 5-0 lead in the first-set tiebreaker. Despite the fact that Tsitsipas snagged seven consecutive points to take the opener, the 29-year-old refused to hang his head and went back to business against the talented Greek on Friday night. Dimitrov never surrendered a break of serve over the course of the contest and overcame 15 aces off the racquet of Dimitrov to claim his 18th victory over the season.
"I kept on believing, I kept on doing the right things and stayed in the match, which I think was the most important thing,” Dimitrov said after the match.
The Bulgarian will next face Dan Evans (d. Rodionov) in quarterfinal action, and he is thankful that his long journey in 2020 has finally become joyful. Dimitrov struggled for months after contracting Covid-19 while taking part in Novak Djokovic’s Adria Tour, but this fall he has found his form quite nicely.
On Friday Dimitrov avenged a loss to Tsitsipas in the round of 16 at Roland-Garros and he did it by producing elevated shotmaking and consistent,varied attack.
He wasn’t the only player that kicked into high gear.
Defending champion Dominic Thiem waltzed past Cristian Garin for his seventh consecutive victory at Vienna, 6-3, 6-2. Thiem needed just 65 minutes and never was troubled by the Chilean who toppled Stan Wawrinka in the first round on Tuesday.
Thiem’s victory sets a popcorn quarterfinal with Russia’s Andrey Rublev. The fifth-seeded 23-year-old will be well-rested after needing just five minutes on court to move through on Friday. The Muscovite, who improved to a mind-boggling 36-7 on the season, moved through with Jannik Sinner was forced to retire with a foot injury.
Thiem leads the head to head 2-1 over Rublev but it was the Russian that won their last contest at Hamburg in 2019. Rublev is bidding for his third consecutive 500-level title after claiming the trophy at Hamburg and St. Petersburg, and the Russian is swiftly moving closer to booking a spot in the ATP’s prestigious year-end finals.
Thiem, meanwhile, is playing for his hometown fans and is also a player riding a hot hand, as he is coming off his first major title at this year’s US Open.
In other action on Thursday, Daniil Medvedev battled past Vasek Pospisil after falling behind by a set. The fourth-seeded Russian showed resilience and was cool under pressure. He faced a break point at 3-all in the second set but once he held serve in that pivotal seventh game he was off to the races.
Medvedev won nine of the final 11 games to notch his 18th win of the season and avenge an earlier loss in 2020 to Pospisil at Rotterdam.
Medvedev will face South Africa’s Kevin Anderson in Friday’s quarterfinals.
World No.1 Novak Djokovic will be back in action against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego. The 25-year-old Italian toppled Hubert Hurkacz of Poland on Thursday, 7-6(6), 7-6(2).
Here’s how the quarterfinals shape up at the last 500 event of 2020: