‘Nerves hit me’ admits Dominic Thiem as he wins again to continue rankings climb

Dominic Thiem has now won three matches in a row for the first time in more than 14 months as he moved into the semi-finals of Gstaad. 

The former world number three is into his first semi-final since May 2021 after defeating Peruvian qualifier Juan Pablo Varillas 6-4, 6-3 at the ATP 250 level Swiss Open.

Thiem played the morning quarter-final on centre court after playing before noon in his previous round too.

“I’m not a morning person,” he joked in his post-match intervew. “Usually when the tournament starts early the stands are quite empty so it’s not that fun. But here it’s amazing, it was a full centre court at 10:30 yesterday and today. 

“So it doesn’t really matter the time, it was great, thank you.

“I played a very good match yesterday and I was able to back it up today.”

Despite the straightforward scoreline, Thiem did struggle at times, openly explaining why during his interview.

“Obviously some things I didn’t like too much,” he said. “I failed twice to serve it out but it’s also nerves a little bit. Because it’s my first semi-finals in more than [a year], it means a lot to me.

“I really need the points to go back up in the rankings, so nerves were hitting me a little bit serving out in the first set and as well in the second set. I’m happy that I was able to break [out of it].”

This win means Thiem is now provisionally back inside the world’s top 200 in the ATP live rankings.

The Austrian was ranked 352nd in the world just over a month ago on 13th June, and came into Gstaad ranked 274th.

Should he clinch the title in Switzerland, Thiem would be ranked inside the top 150 again.

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