ATP Antwerp: Dominic Thiem at the start against wildcard man Michael Geerts
Austria's top player Dominic Thiem meets wildcard player and local hero Michael Geerts in the first round of the ATP World Tour 250 tournament in Antwerp.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit: Oct 15, 2022, 09:29 pm
The defeat on today's semi-final day at the ATP tournament in Giron was certainly not the most bitter or depressing that the Lichtenwörther had to accept in his career. In the strong duel with the Russian Andrey Rublev, the Austrian showed his best side at times. In terms of pace, Thiem was certainly on par with the current world number ninth.
There can't be another duel with his buddy from Moscow at next week's ATP World Tour 250 tournament in Antwerp. Thiem is part of the Belgian metropolis, but Rublev would have been committed to Naples, but he pulled out there at short notice anyway because he would like to take a break before the hot phase for long-awaited points for the ATP -Finals goes.
Cerundolo again in the round of 16?
At the start of the European Open, the Lower Austrian was drawn to the wildcard local hero Michael Geerts. Certainly a grateful lot and a more than feasible task for a Thiem who will be able to safely transport the form from northwest Spain to Belgium. It would be desirable in any case - but nothing is fixed.
Geerts spends most of his tennis year one step down at ATP Challenger level with rather mixed results, although there are a few positive outliers in the 27-year-old's CV. Should this hurdle be overcome, another duel with the Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo could be pending. Thiem had the world rankings 29 this week. defeated by Giron in two strong sets in the quarterfinals.
However, Cerundolo would have to take Swiss Marc-Andrea Huesler out of the race anyway. If Thiem even makes it to the quarter-finals, there would most likely be a match-up with Hubert Hurkacz from Poland. The Austrian does not have the best memories of the tournament's number one. In Metz at the end of September, eleventh in the world rankings clearly defeated Thiem 6: 3, 6: 4.