Tennis pro Yannick Hanfmann defeated local hero Dominic Thiem in Kitzbühel and reached the semi-finals of an ATP tournament for the first time in a year. The 30-year-old from Weinheim defeated the former US Open winner 6: 4, 3: 6, 6: 4.
Austria’s Thiem has recently shown a slow upward trend after returning from a protracted injury at the end of March, but was beaten after 2:27 hours. The game was interrupted at 5: 4 for Hanfmann in the third set due to rain, the 140th in the world rankings then used the third match ball to win thanks to a forehand error by Thiem. “What a drama, what an atmosphere,” he said in the winner’s interview.
In the semifinals of the 534,555 euro clay court event, Hanfmann now meets the winner of the game between Dusan Lajovic from Serbia and Filip Misolic from Austria. Most recently, Hanfmann was in the semi-finals of Bastad in mid-July 2021. In his career he has reached an ATP final twice – most recently in 2020 in Kitzbühel – and is still waiting for his first title.