ATP Bastad: Dominic Thiem beats Emil Ruusuvuori in three tight sets
Dominic Thiem made it to the round of 16 at the ATP 250 tournament in Bastad. The Austrian beat Emil Ruusuvuori in a gripping match 3:6, 6:1 and 7.6 (5)
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Jul 12, 2022, 03:38 pm
Dominic Thiem is getting better and better: After the US Open winner of 2020 celebrated his first success after 419 days at the Challenger event in Salzburg last week, he now also achieved his first victory of the year at the highest tournament level a. Thiem beat Emil Ruusuvuori 3: 6, 6: 1 and 7: 6 (5) at the ATP 250 clay court tournament in Bastad.
Thiem got off to a bad start in Scandinavia and quickly found himself trailing 1-5. The 28-year-old was then able to improve marginally, but on the second attempt Ruusuvuori served easily to win the first set.
The Finn initially had the upper hand in the second round, but missed three breakballs in a row when the score was 1:1. Thiem took the momentum from this won service game, took the serve from Ruusuvuori to make it 3-1 and secured section two a little later with 6-1.
Thiem prevails in the tie-break
After undoubtedly the best set since his return to the tour, Thiem missed a break opportunity at the beginning of the third set and had to give up his serve a few minutes later. However, the 28-year-old hit back immediately and subsequently made the decisive round extremely balanced.
Thiem even took a 4: 3 lead, but then got visibly nervous and received the immediate rebreak. It finally went into a tie-break in which the Austrian, thanks to a double mistake by his opponent, converted his first match point to a 3: 6, 6: 1 and 7: 6 (5) success. In the round of 16 he will face fourth seeded Roberto Bautista Agut.