ATP Buenos Aires: Dominic Thiem - This start makes you want more
After his two-set win against Alex Molcan, Dominic Thiem will play against Juan Pablo Varillas in the round of 16 of the ATP Tour 250 tournament in Buenos Aires. One can be cautiously optimistic.
by Jens Huiber
last edit:
Feb 15, 2023, 08:50 am
A pleasant side effect of beating a seeded player in round one of a tournament is that there isn't much caliber waiting in the match afterwards. And even if Dominic Thiem will by no means underestimate his opponent in the round of 16 in Buenos Aires, Juan Pablo Varillas, the following still applies: Thiem is happy to take it! Especially since the two met in Gstaad last summer, the Austrian won then without any major problems.
sky2023buenosrio
Can that also be said of the opening win against Alex Molcan? The statistics for Thiem's 7: 6 (4) and 6: 3 do not show any major differences, neither in terms of serve nor return. Good: Thiem was able to fend off two out of three break chances (Molcan only one out of three), which was important in that the very first would have meant a 2-0 lead for the Slovak in set one. But that doesn't have much relevance on sand. See also the final phase of round one, where Thiem set the course for victory with a break to 6: 5. Only to immediately lose his serve afterwards.
Massu comes to Team Thiem with euphoria
Doesn't matter. Dominic Thiem celebrated the first match success in an official ATP game since the comeback victory against Tommy Paul in the Wiener Stadthalle, that was a few days ago. On the other hand, Thiem hasn't played that many tournaments since then: not a single one in 2022, this season Adelaide 1 and the Australian Open. Plus the Davis Cup in Croatia, which didn't bring a sense of achievement.
Nicolas Massu is back at Thiem's side in Buenos Aires. The Chilean came to Argentina with the euphoria of his team's qualification for the Davis Cup intermediate round. Massu is known to act as the captain of his home country. Thiem and Massu began working together in Buenos Aires in 2019, initially on a small flame, which then quickly burned up when Thiem celebrated his greatest success to date in Indian Wells.
Four years later, the situation is different, with his current ranking of 99th place, he does not get a place in the tableau in Indian Wells (he has asked tournament director Tommy Haas for a wildcard). But first they practice and play on sand. In Buenos Aires, then in Rio de Janeiro and finally in Santiago, where Coach Massu has home rights. The start against Alex Molcan made you want more.