ATP Buenos Aires: Dominic Thiem demands a tennis esthete
Dominic Thiem plays in the quarter-finals of the ATP Tour 250 tournament in Buenos Aires against Pablo Cuevas from Uruguay. The balance between the two players is balanced.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Feb 15, 2019, 09:25 am
One could almost think that Dominic Thiem and Pablo Cuevas only meet on high occasions: the two have faced each other four times so far, three of them at Masters 1000 level, once even at the French Open. This happened in 2015, when Cuevas hit the backhand of the Lower Austrian on the small Court 3 with his serve, winning in four short sentences.
Thiem won the next two matches in Madrid and Rome, each in 2017. At the last encounter last year, however, the 25-year-old Lichtenwörther had to give up after twisting his ankle.
Cuevas like his coach Mancini
Now for the first time in an ATP 250 tournament there is a meeting between Thiem and Cuevas (today from 11 p.m. in our live ticker). Both players convinced in the second round of Buenos Aires with two set wins, Thiem against Maximilian Marterer, Cuevas against Joao Sousa.
Pablo Cuevas, born in Argentina, is 33 years old now, his clay court game is timelessly beautiful, especially the one-handed backhand. This aesthetic is reminiscent of that of coach Alberto Mancini, who had successfully rummaged through the ashes of the tennis tour in the 1990s.
His career record shows that Cuevas feels good in South America: he has won four of his six titles in Sao Paolo (three in all) and Rio de Janeiro. However, the fact that Pablo Cuevas is currently only at position 78 in the ATP world rankings should not be deceptive: last week in Cordoba, he only failed in the semi-finals against Guido Pella.
Successful in doubles
Dominic Thiem, on the other hand, normally has a harder serve than his opponent, and Austria's number one also plays the balls a little faster than Cuevas. The appearance against Marterer was solid, especially after the failed start to the season in Doha and at the Australian Open.
In any case, Thiem brings a small advantage to the quarter-finals: He has already defeated Pablo Cuevas a few days ago in Buenos Aires: in doubles alongside Diego Schwartzman.