ATP Barcelona: Thiem continues after strong performance
Dominic Thiem (ATP 5) stopped his negative series against Diego Schwartzman (ATP 25) with a 6: 3, 6: 3 against the Argentine clay court specialist at the ATP Tour 500 tournament in Barcelona.
by Robert M. Frank
last edit: Apr 23, 2019, 08:12 pm
After two defeats against the clay court specialist at the tournaments in Buenos Aires (2019) and the Masters in Canada (2017), the Lower Austrian prevailed against Schwartzman in Catalonia this time.
After Thiem had fended off a breakball in the first set in his first service game, the 25-year-old then ran almost like clockwork. Thiem took the first service game from the man from Buenos Aires on the center court "Rafa Nadal" to make up for another service game win. However, the Argentinian caught something after that and came back to 3: 3 after a break. Only then did the top Austrian player turn the set back in his favor and win after another break and two serve games 6: 3.
In the second set, the 1.70-meter-long sandpit root from Argentina brought his service game through. After that, the former number 11 in the world rankings, who had to struggle through the qualification in Barcelona, had to bow to the high-spirited Thiem. The Lower Austrian not only equalized to 1-1, but took Schwartzman's service two more times in a row. The fact that the Argentine Thiem took off the mark again was only cosmetic results. Number five in the world rankings immediately made the rebreak and won the second set 6: 3.
With the strong performance, Thiem not only expanded his record against Schwartzman to 4: 2 at the clay court tournament in Catalonia with 2.6 million euros, but also his two unfortunate Masters performances recently in Monte Carlo (out in the round of 16) and in Miami (Off in round 2) let forget. The third round continues for Thiem, number three in Barcelona, against Spaniard Jaume Munar (ATP 57). The 21-year-old had won his game against Frances Tiafoe (ATP 30) from the USA with 6: 4, 6: 3.