Dominic Thiem took the next hurdle at the ATP Challenger in Rennes. The former tennis world number three made it into the semifinals of the hard court tournament on Friday with a hard-fought 3:6,6:3,6:2 win over Bulgarian Adrian Andreev. The top seeded Frenchman Hugo Gaston is waiting there on Saturday, who didn’t give his compatriot Benoit Paire a chance with 6:3.6:1. 90 ATP points and prize money of 9,200 euros await the tournament winner in Rennes.
As in the opening round once morest the French Gilles Simon, the start for Thiem did not go as desired, a break to 3-1 for Andreev was the decisive factor in the end. But once more, following a set deficit, an increase was recognizable. At 3: 0 it seemed to be heading for a quick equalizer, but Andreev fought back and made the rebreak to 3: 4 in a marathon game. The 4:4 was also in the air followingwards, but this time Thiem had the longer breath and laid the foundation for winning the set with the break.