Hamburg Open: Andrey Rubley Stuns Top Seed Dominic Thiem To Reach Semi-final

Andrey Rubley denied top seed Dominic Thiem a place in the semi-finals having outlasted him in straight sets 7-6(3), 7-6(5) in the quarter-finals on Friday.

After Dominic had lost the opening set for letting his opponent to break back at 4-2 and won after a tiebreak, he yet saw a strong resilience from the Russian who at 1-2 in the second set tiebreak, won five straight match points to beat the Austrian in an hour and 47 minutes of play.

Rubley, so glad at winning he described as one that "special" to him, the 21-year-old said Dominic to him is the "best player on clay" after Rafael Nadal.

Dominic already have won two titles - Barcelona Open and Indian Well - this season to bring his overall singles career titles to a total of 13.

"The match was basically under my control and the  I did some pretty stupid things in that game [speaking of first set at 4-2], let him back into the match," the Austrian lamented.

Rubley will meet in the semi-finals Fabio Fognini's victor Pablo Carreno Busta who won in three sets 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(4) in two hour and a half hours.