LORENZO Sonego has left onlookers stunned as the 25-year-old Italian completely blitz world number one Novak Djokovic 6-2 6-1 to advance through to the semi-finals of the Erste Bank Open semi-finals in Vienna. In a day where stunning results were the norm – the three top tournament favourites all lost – Sonego was the pick of the bunch needing just 68 minutes to completely dismantle the Serbian in a very strange result.

The 42nd ranked Italian is no slouch, but it was more the loss was very un-Djokovic like serving just three aces as well as three double faults, and was broken five times whilst unable to break Sonego at all from six chances. By contrast, Sonego dominated his serve, winning 80 per cent of his first serve points off a 67 per cent efficiency and serving eight aces to-boot as he triumphed in 60 per cent of the points.

Sonego like most people watching on, could hardly believe it.

“For sure it’s the best victory of my life,” Sonego said post-match. “Novak is the best in the world. Today I played so, so good. “It’s unbelievable. It’s amazing.”

What makes the result all the more remarkable is the fact that Sonego was never even meant to be in the Vienna main draw. The Italian lost in qualifying to Aljaz Bedene, but earned a second chance courtesy of a late withdrawal from Diego Schwartzman, and has since made his way through to the semis with stunning wins over top 30 players, Dusan Lajovic, Hubert Hurkacz and now Djokovic.

Having never won a match against a Top 10 opponent, Sonego could not fault his performance with the Italian becoming the first ever lucky loser to defeat Djokovic.

“I was focussed on my tennis. Today I played good. I served so good, I returned good and I played the best tennis and moved so good the ball,” Sonego said. “I like it here, I like the conditions. It’s so fast for my serve. All good today.”

Despite the event being on hard court – Djokovic’s preferred surface – the Serbian world number one had no answers for the Italian and was left searching for answers, something he rarely has to do having only lost two matches prior to the clash, including one where he was defaulted.

“He just blew me off the court, that’s all,” Djokovic said post-match. “He was better in every segment of the game… it was a pretty bad match from my side, but amazing from his side. He definitely deserved this result.”

A couple of other results would normally have claimed the headlines, but it was Sonego’s dismantling win of the world number one that caught the eye the most. However the next two favourites also bit the dust with world number three Dominic Thiem and world number six Daniil Medvedev out of the Erste Bank Open.

Defending champion Thiem was eliminated by the red-hot Andrey Rublev who all but secured his spot for the ATP Finals with his run to the semis in Austria. Rublev won 7-6 6-2, hitting 30 winners to move within two victories of a third straight ATP 500 title. The 23-year-old won at both the Hamburg European Open at St. Petersburg Open, and now is up to a 13-match winning streak, needing just 95 minutes to win against the home court favourite.

Rublev’s serve is near-unbeatable at the moment, only dropping four points off his first serve, and producing 11 aces. Thiem was strong too, only dropping the six points off 10 aces, but was broken twice, and won just 49 per cent of his second serve points.

“I came here with the mood that I have nothing to lose,” Rublev said post-match.. “I [had] already a really great season. Last year, I already [made] the quarter-finals so I knew it was going to be tough for me to get to the semi-finals. ”I came here with zero expectations, just [wanting] to do my best. To try to fight every match. At the end, I am here in the semi-finals.”

Now Rublev will face Kevin Anderson in the semi-finals in what is predicted to be a huge clash, with the 2018 champion a known winner on the courts in Vienna. Like Rublev, Anderson had a stunning upset win to take down third seed Medvedev, winning 6-4 7-6 to halt a potential all-Russian semi-final. Anderson needed 90 minutes for the win, serving nine aces and winning 83 and 67 per cent of his service points, holding firm to break Medvedev with the only capitalised break point of the match.

The win marked Anderson’s first semi-final in almost two years – and his first Top 10 win since the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals – in what was a remarkable effort. The South African said he was thrilled to be through to the semi-finals and hoped to repeat his title-winning run from two years ago.

”I am very, very pleased. I have waited a long time to play a match like this. It was very high quality and I knew I had to play very well against Daniil to get through,” Anderson said post-match.

In the final match of the day, Brit Daniel Evans knocked off Grigor Dimitrov to complete four upsets on the day. Evans won 7-6 4-6 6-3 in two hours and 43 minutes, serving seven aces to four and winning more than half his second serve points and 77 per cent of his first serve points off an inconsistent 52 per cent serving efficiency. Both players broke three times, but the final break of the day allowed Evans to take the win after a hard-fought match that saw him advance to the final four. Evans will take on Sonego in the later semi-final tomorrow following the clash between Anderson and Rublev.

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