Thiem stuns Murray to book place in final
Kyrgios withdraws from Estoril following death of his grandfather
Dominic Thiem claimed his first win over world No. 1 Andy Murray 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 to book his place in the final of the Barcelona Open yesterday.
The Austrian will face Rafael Nadal, who is looking for his 10th title in Barcelona, or Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos today.
Murray squeezed past Albert Ramos-Vinolas in a threehour encounter on Friday and looked flat-footed as Thiem roared through the opening set with three breaks of serve in just over half an hour.
The Scot had to stave off another break point in a marathon opening game to the second set. But he held on and then jumped at his chance to break for 5-3 before serving out to take the match to a decider.
Murray, though, still looks a pale shadow of the player that rose to number one on a spectacular run at the end of last year as he struggles for form and fitness after an elbow injury.
Thiem had to battle back from a break down in the third, but constantly put pressure on the Murray serve and broke another three times in the deciding set to seal his place in the final.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Nick Kyrgios withdrew from the Estoril claycourt tournament following the death of his grandfather, the world No. 16 announced on Twitter.
Kyrgios, who was due to be top seed at the Portuguese event starting tomorrow, said he was heading home to attend the funeral of his grandfather Christos Kyrgios who lost his battle against cancer.
“I have unfortunately withdrawn from the Estoril Open to go back to Australia and attend my grandfather’s funeral,” said the controversial 22-year-old.
“The decision was a hard one but my family is very important to me and I feel the need to be around my loved ones at this time as well as pay my respects to my ‘Papou’ who I loved very much.”