ATP Masters Madrid: Dominic Thiem before the match against John Isner - "Often out of breath"
Dominic Thiem moved into the quarter-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid without losing a set. There the Austrian will meet John Isner on Friday (live on Sky and in our live ticker).
by Jens Huiber
last edit: May 06, 2021, 05:47 pm
The top players on the ATP tour basically have nothing to give away, but you hardly have to score the point against any other player than against Alex de Minaur. The Australian is one of the most agile professionals, but luckily for his opponents he does not have the opportunities of Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic, who have perfected the transition from defensive to offensive. For Dominic Thiem, de Minaur was a perfect test of the current level of performance after a week-long break. Conclusion: Austria's number one has passed.
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Not without a stomachache, as Thiem noted in his press conference for the round of 16 match. “If I don't pass the ball for him with the set ball, then this is a completely different story.” As it was, Thiem kept his nerve and the upper hand, winning 7: 6 (7) and 6: 4. And overall I was satisfied with the match. “There were some good long rallies. I got out of breath very often. It was perfect for me to get back into my match rhythm a little, to run after a lot of balls. "
Thiem placed almost 65 percent of his first serves in the field, winning almost three quarters of the points played. Overall, the two were 111 intense minutes on the Manolo Santana Court.
Thiem now against Isner
Thiem did not yet know his opponent in the quarter-final at the time of his PK, Andrey Rublev and John Isner should not pay out their entry fee until later in the afternoon. And how. Isner prevailed with 7: 6 (4), 3: 6, 7: 6 (4), serving 29 aces, so Thiem's qualities as a setback will be in demand. It would be best to avoid a tibereak. The way Rublev just couldn't. The Russian dominated out of the game, but did not divide the breaks accurately: Rublev got two in round two, Isner not a single one.
The balance between Thiem and Isner is balanced on the ATP tour: Isner won on hard court in Beijing in 2015, Thiem won in Nice a few months earlier. And also got the last meeting of the two at the Laver Cup 2017 in Prague. There, however, the game is not played in the best-of-three format, the decision in the event of a tie will result in a match tiebreak. Dominic Thiem won against John Isner in the Czech capital in 2017.
Here the single tableau in Madrid
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