Hamburg’s foul weather had the most beautiful center court in Germany firmly in its grip on Thursday. Rain, sun, hail – and all that in cool temperatures. The spectators were really offered everything. But the pros coped well with it. “That’s the way it is in Germany. Sometimes the sun shines, sometimes it rains,” said top favorite Andrey Rublev, unimpressed. The right-hander, seeded third, fought an intense battle with Luciano Darderi from Italy in the quarter-finals of the Bitpanda Hamburg Open under a closed roof – and advanced to the semi-finals at the Rothenbaum after winning 6:1, 3:6 and 6:3. “It’s exactly these matches that I needed and that help me to rebuild my confidence,” added the 27-year-old, who had been in fluctuating form recently.

Like Rublev, Tomas Martin Etcheverry is also in the semi-finals in Hamburg. In the first match of the day, the Argentinian played himself into the last four with a commanding 7:5, 6:3 victory over Jiri Lehečka under a closed roof. The second match of the day was also clear-cut in the end: Although Flavio Cobolli had to fight for the first set in a tie-break, the 23-year-old Italian then clearly dominated the action and confidently beat Roberto Bautista Agut from Spain 7:6(4) and 6:0.

The remarkable Rothenbaum trip of top talent Justin Engel came to an end on Thursday: the 17-year-old, who had only just failed to beat Rublev in the singles, suffered a clear 1:6, 2:6 defeat with his doubles partner Max Hans Rehberg against the top seeds Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten on Court M1. Bad news reached the Hamburg tennis fans in the afternoon: the defending doubles champions Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz had to withdraw due to an injury to Pütz who had injured his hand in a fall the day before.

The match of the day then took place in the evening. In increasingly cool temperatures, Zverev’s conqueror Alexandre Müller and sixth seed Félix Auger-Aliassime from Canada battled it out. It was a real thriller that only came to an end shortly before half past nine. The match went back and forth. At first it looked as if the Canadian would only need two sets, in the tiebreak of the second set he already had match points, but Müller, who had already shown comeback qualities against Zverev, came back and forced his opponent into the deciding set. Auger-Aliassime again had the better end of the match. After two hours and 58 minutes, it was 7:6, 6:7 and 6:3 at the end of a thrilling match.

The semi-finals will now take place on Friday at the Rothenbaum: Etcheverry will face Cobolli in the first match, followed by the top duel between the two seeded players Auger-Aliassime and Rublev.