ATP Gijon: Dominic Thiem is subject to Andrey Rublev and misses the final
Dominic Thiem missed the final at the ATP 250 tournament in Gijon, Spain. He was defeated by world number ninth Andrey Rublev 4:6, 4:6 despite an appealing performance.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Oct 15, 2022, 03:49 pm
Thiem wanted to move into his first ATP tour final here since his comeback in spring - that will have to wait.
Thiem showed right from the start how it could have gone with a win over the favorite hard hitter Rublev: via the Rublev backhand, preferably with the ball a little higher. In order to then take the initiative himself. Only he came too rarely, especially when the Russian served. He also made the first break and went to zero and suddenly it was 4:1, although the match had just seemed balanced. But Thiem stayed on, finally unpacked good returns at 3: 5 and managed the rebreak. But then Rublev consistently got into the rallies with the forehand, a double mistake by Thiem sealed the first set.
Impressive: Rublev made 13 out of 15 points after the first serve, i.e. 87 percent. Thiem was only 62 percent here.
Round two started more balanced, Thiem is now better in Rublev's service games - the first three all went over the debut, but without generating a break chance. Thiem, on the other hand, had to fend off one at 1: 2 and did so with a serve-backhand combination worth seeing. While Thiem then went too wild a few rallies too early at 4: 4, Rublev was then highly concentrated and came up with two Mach balls - but Thiem fended off magnificently. Bitter: the double fault afterwards. Strong: Rublev's passing shot to the line to win.
Thiem can still be very satisfied with his week: Two strong matches against Joao Sousa and Francisco Cerundolo (ATP No. 29!), a fight victory against Marcos Giron and now a very courageous performance goes to Rublev.
Dominic Thiem would have moved back into the top 100 if he won the tournament, so he is back in 132nd place in the current live ranking. Tendency: Rising!