Austrian Thiem is now back

the Austrian Dominic Thiem He showed that he is back and will play his second consecutive semifinal in the last two weeks, after confirming his qualification for the penultimate round of the ATP 250 indoor tournament on the hard court in Antwerp on Friday by winning 3-6, 7 -6 (9) and 7-6 (4) in Polish Hubert Hurkaczfirst favorite, in the quarterfinals.

An intense victory in which the Austrian, who became number 3 in the world rankings, had to overcome up to three match points in an exciting tiebreak in the second set, which finally fell to Thiem’s ​​side 9-11.

This result seemed to give new energy to the Austrian tennis player, who returned to the circuit in March after missing the court for almost nine months due to a wrist injury.

As he showed 7-6 (4) where Thiem, who played last week in the semifinals of the tournament Gijonwon the third and final manga.

“This victory is especially incredible, because it is my first against almost a Top 10 rival – Hurkacz is number 11 in the world ranking – in my comeback process,” the Austrian said in statements released by the ATP.

Dominic Thiem, winner of US Open in 2020will square off in the semifinals with the American sebastian cordawho defeated Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka this Friday by a convincing 6-0 and 6-2.

For its part, the French Richard Gasquet confirmed his qualification for the semifinals by beating Belgian David Goffin 6-2, 7-6 (6), in a clash in which the Frenchman did not drop his serve in one instance after saving up to six that breaking ball from those arranged by the Belgian tennis player.

Gasquet, who this year counts the semifinals he reached in June at the “challenger” in Lyon (France) as his best result, will face the winner of the quarter-final duel between the Canadian. Felix Auger-Aliassimesecond seed in the tournament, and Britain’s Daniel Evans.