1st home title for Thiem; Tsitsipas in semis, Murray nearer return

Five years after reaching his maiden ATP Tour final at the Generali Open, Dominic Thiem defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6(0), 6-1 to lift his first title on home soil at the ATP 250 event.

The World No. 4, who fell in three sets to David Goffin in the 2014 championship match, saved all six break points he faced to overcome the Gstaad champion after one hour and 38 minutes. Thiem is only the second Austrian player to lift the title in Kitzbühel, following in the footsteps of former World No.1 and 1993 champion Thomas Muster.

Thiem also joins his coach, Nicolas Massu, as a champion at the clay-court tournament. Massu beat Gaston Gaudio of Argentina to lift the trophy in 2004. The 25-year-old, who improves to 28-11 this season, has claimed three titles from four tour-level championship matches in 2019.

Thiem lifted his maiden ATP Masters 1000 trophy at the BNP Paribas Open and also triumphed at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, before falling to Rafael Nadal in his second straight final at Roland Garros in June.

Meanwhile, top seed Tsitsipas beat French 10th seed Benoit Paire 7-5, 6-0 to reach the semi-finals of the ATP Washington Open and ensure he will overtake Germany’s Alexander Zverev to crack the world rankings top five on Monday.

The 20-year-old Australian Open semi-finalist, who lost to Zverev in last year’s Washington semis, advanced to a semi-final against either 137th-ranked Slovakian lucky loser Norbert Gombos or Australia’s Nick Kyrgios. The Tsitsipas victory was marked by his third straight game with a delay to change shoes, having said he damages them when he slides incorrectly.

Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev advanced to the semi-finals by defeating Croatian sixth seed and 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic 6-4, 7-6 (9/7).

Medvedev is chasing his fifth career ATP title after winning in February at Sofia.

“I served really great. That was one of the keys,” Medvedev said.

Next up for Medvedev will be 122nd-ranked German lucky loser Peter Gojowczyk, who outlasted British 13th seed Kyle Edmund 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

Gojowczyk, who only made the event after Australia’s Bernard Tomic dropped out with a finger injury, added the world number 34 to a US capital victims list that includes Canada’s 20th-ranked Milos Raonic and 25th-ranked Aussie Alex De Minaur.

“I was actually surprised to play any matches and now I’m in the semis,” said Gojowczyk.

In the accompanying WTA event, Taiwan’s 31st-ranked Hsieh Su-Wei, the only seed in the last eight, lost to American Catherine McNally 6-4, 6-3.

Russian qualifier Anna Kalinskaya ousted France’s Kristina Mladenovic 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to book a semi-final date with American Jessica Pegula, who beat compatriot Lauren Davis 6-2, 7-6 (7/2).

Seventh-seeded Maria Sakkari saved four match points to upset top-seeded Elina Svitolina Friday and reach the semi-finals of the WTA Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, California.

Greece’s Sakkari rallied from 1-6, 2-5 down to triumph 1-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 as she remained on course to reach the final for a second straight year.

She’ll face Zheng Saisai for a place in the final after the 55th-ranked Chinese player out-lasted fourth-seeded US teenager Amanda Anisimova 5-7, 7-5, 6-4.

Sakkari saved three match points in the ninth game of the second set, finally converting her fifth break point in a game that went to deuce seven times. She saved another match point on the way to holding her own serve for 5-5 and never trailed in the second-set tiebreaker.

“I’m super-happy,” Sakkari said.

Second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus booked her spot in the semi-finals with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Spanish sixth seed Carla Suarez Navarro. Sabalenka next faces fifth-seeded Croatian Donna Vekic, who defeated American qualifier Kristie Ahn 7-5, 6-0.

Agencies