Andrey Rublev this week returned to the site of fond personal memories in the Bitpanda Hamburg Open, where the 17-time ATP Tour champion continues to show signs of his best level.
The third seed held firm to defeat Luciano Darderi 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 on Thursday and seal a semi-final spot at the clay ATP 500. Rublev, who reached the Hamburg final in 2019 before lifting the trophy a year later, dug deep for his third victory of the week after a difficult couple of months on Tour.
“I’m happy to be in the semi-final,” said Rublev. “These were a couple of matches that I needed. I need wins. I needed to struggle, like when you face a tough fight and you don’t really feel the game, but somehow you are winning.
“Today I was able to play much better. It is one extra match that counts for me. I was missing these kinds of matches, because I really need them, and I’m happy to be back in the semi-final.”
Rublev arrived in Germany having gone 2-7 since lifting an ATP 500 crown in Doha in February. Yet he built on his opening wins against Damir Dzumhur and Justin Engel in Hamburg by keeping his cool to overcome Darderi, who was chasing his maiden win against a Top 20 opponent. Rublev converted three of seven break points he earned, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to complete a one-hour, 54-minute win.
Awaiting the No. 17 in the PIF ATP Rankings in the semi-finals will be sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime or Alexandre Muller.
In the opening match of the day, Tomas Martin Etcheverry eased past Jiri Lehecka 7-5, 6-3 to reach his maiden tour-level semi-final in 2025. Etcheverry dropped out of the Top 50 last month but can secure his return by lifting his maiden ATP Tour crown in Hamburg: The Argentine has risen two spots to No. 53 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings as a result of his run so far.
Flavio Cobolli is the player standing between Etcheverry and a spot in the final at Am Rothenbaum. The Bucharest champion accelerated to a 7-6(4), 6-0 win against Roberto Bautista Agut to advance to the last four.
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