Sebastian Baez ends Thiem’s successful week in Bastad

Argentinian Sebastian Baez, the No 8 seed, edged former world No 3 Dominic Thiem 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-4 to reach the semi-finals of the Nordea Open at Bastad on Friday.

Baez, ranked No 34, will play the winner of the match between Serb Laslo Djere and Russian Andrey Rublev, the second seed, next.

The 21-year-old Argentinian is into this third semi-final of the season (and third of his career), and he improves to 20-9 on clay, and 24-16 overall.

You might also like this

“Great feeling to finally get my full strength in the shots back” – Thiem finding his feet again

tennis majors

Thiem notches his first Top-20 win since 2020 to reach the quarter-finals at Bastad

tennis majors

Baez was pushed to the brink by Thiem, who had snapped his 10-match losing streak earlier in the week, and earned his first victories in 14 months while making his Bastad debut. The former world No 3 defeated Emil Ruusuvuori in the first round before topping fourth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut to reach the quarter-finals (for his first top-20 win since 2020).

28-year-old Thiem, who missed nine months with wrist and hand issues before returning to the tour this April, saved a match point in the second set before coming through the tiebreak to force a decider.

Baez took control of the match in the final set with a service break for 3-2, as he converted his fifth break point of the set. Thiem had two break points with Baez serving at 4-3, but could not draw level.

Still it was a productive week for the 2020 US Open champion. The Austrian is projected to rise 67 ranking spots to about 272 in next week’s rankings thanks to his trip to the quarter-finals.

Bastad ATP 250, other last eight results (Båstads tennisstadion, clay, EUR 597.900, most recent results first):

• Laslo Djere vs. Andrey Rublev
• Pablo Carreno Busta (5) beat Diego Schwartzman (3): 6-1, 6-0
• Francisco Cerundolo beat Aslan Karatsev: 7-5, 6-1

Read also

“We have accomplished everything purely by our effort and hard work” – Fast-rising Argentine Sebastian Baez

Tennis Majors