Top seed Dominic Thiem has withdrawn from his semifinal match at the Doha Open, according to his coach.
Gunter Bresnik has told German website tennisnet.com that Thiem is suffering from a high fever and will not be able to play. As the only seeded player left in the draw, Thiem was set to take on Gael Monfils in Friday’s semifinal.
“Dominic is in bed with a fever and so tennis is out of the question at the moment.” Bresnik told Tennisnet.
The 24-year-old Austrian had enjoyed a strong run in his first tournament of 2018. Recording straight sets wins over Evgeny Donskoy, Aljaz Bedene and Stefanos Tsitsipas earlier in the week. Moving him into the last four at an ATP tournament for the first time since the French Open last June.
It has also been confirmed by Bresnik that Thiem is currently too sick to travel due to how high his fever is. Reportedly saying that is is ‘too dangerous’ for him to fly. As a result, he will remain in Doha until he is well enough.
The news broken by Bresnik has since been confirmed by the organisers of the Doha Open, which is celebrating their 26th edition in 2018.
As a result of Thiem’s withdrawal, Monfils will move into his 27th ATP final and first since July. He will take on either Andrey Rublev or Guido Pella. It also means that Monfils will not play a single seeded player in the tournament this week.
The setback comes just over a week before the start of the Australian Open, which will get underway on January 15th. World No.5 Thiem is aiming to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament for the first time in his career. Last year he lost in the fourth round to David Goffin.
