Dominic Thiem praised his home atmosphere after edging Matteo Berrettini 3-6 7-5 6-3 to reach his first Vienna final.
The top seed battled past Berrettini in a gruelling 2 and a half hour contest to reach his first ever final in his home tournament in Vienna.
After losing the first set, Thiem managed to grab the critical break in the eleventh game to seal a tight second set and continue the momentum in the deciding set.
As a result of his win, the Austrian is now 8-0 in his home country for 2019 and praised the electric atmosphere after the match, “I never experienced such a great atmosphere here,” Thiem explained to atptour.com.
“It was full from the first point on. Such a loud atmosphere as well. It was perfect to play in and the match was on a very high level from the first to the last point… With all the support and home advantage, I was able to pull through.”
Five breaks of serve throughout the match was the difference in stopping the Italian’s run as he now is the first Austrian to reach the Vienna final since 2010 on what is his 10th appearance at the tournament.
Next up for the two-time Roland Garros finalist is Diego Schwartzman and now feels confident given his positive head-to-head record against the Argentinian, “I am very confident now,” the Austrian said.
“It was a tough match mentally and physically but it was not too late. There is going to be an amazing energy again tomorrow, so I am really looking forward to that.
“It was a big dream from the first time I came here when I was five or six years old to be there on Sunday and tomorrow is that day. I am going to be very ready.”
As for Berrettini, he stays in eighth place in the Race To London rankings and will need a strong week in Paris next week to book his place at the ATP Finals.
The first opponent for the US Open semi-finalist in the French capital will be Andrey Rublev or Jo-Wilfred Tsonga.
