The former world number three beat world No. 20 Spaniard Roberto Bautista in Bastad and thanked the two-time Olympic champion for his work. “It’s very good to have someone by your side who has that kind of experience in these kinds of championships,” he said.
Dominic Thiem’s nightmare seems to be coming to an end this week, at ATP 250 in Bastad, where he finally found victory after 14 months in oblivion , the product of a right wrist injury that kept him out of the field for half of last year and the first part of this season. On his return, things did not improve either and he fell to 339th place in the standings. However, in the Swedish port, which he accessed through his protected classification, The pupil of Nicolás Massú is starting to see a glimmer of hope to regain the confidence and level that led him to be world number three.
During this day, the Austrian beat the Spaniard Roberto Bautista (20th), 7-6 (5), 3-6 and 6-4, in two hours and 38 minutes, and qualified for his first quarter-finals since May last year, when he reached the semi-finals of the Masters 1000 in Madrid. In the match, he showed passages of his best tennis and even managed to come back from 2-5 in the first round.
After the victory, Domi thanked the work of his Chilean coach, who also led him to win the US Open two years ago. “He knows everything about this tournament, even the nightlife. But apart from that, it’s very good to have someone who has this experience in this type of championship by your side, ”he laughed. The path was not easy, since he even chose to return to the challenger circuit, with mixed results, to try to find the sensations.
In this sense, he highlighted the momentum he gained after beating the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori in the first round, which meant his first ATP victory in 14 months. “The victory against Emil gave me the confidence that I can face the best in the world and today against Roberto. He is still a tough opponent. I was hoping it would be a tight game. When I won the first set of decisive game I told myself that I could win today. I believed in it until the end of the match and the third set was very good,” he summed up after entering the round of the best eight.
For passage to the semi-finals, Thiem will be looking to beat Argentinian Sebastián Báez (34th) a tennis player who is living the best moment of his career and who has been one of the great performers of the season on clay. The Transandean easily beat the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (36th), last finalist of the Masters 1000 of Monte-Carlo, 6-2 6-3, in just 1h20 of play.
“Báez is a great player on clay, Estoril won and for me it will be good where I am right now and I hope I can do well” commented the Viñamarino student about this new challenge. In any case, what he has already done allows him to have a significant rise in the classification, since with the added points, will climb at least 67 places and will be placed on space 272 of the world ranking.
Follow in sports
Source: Latercera

I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.