ATP Masters Rome: Dominic Thiem fails in the second round to Lorenzo Sonego
Dominic Thiem failed in the round of 16 of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome! The Austrian was defeated by local hero Lorenzo Sonego with 4: 6 and 7: 6 (5), and 6: 7 (5) (You can read the match in the re-live here!) . In the round of the last eight, the Russian Andrey Rublev is now waiting.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: May 13, 2021, 11:03 pm
Round two of Dominic Thiem's return to the ATP tour is already well underway, after a show of strength at the start of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome, the Austrian is also in the second round in the Italian capital. In this Thiem should get to do with the dangerous Italian Lorenzo Sonego, who was able to defeat his compatriot Gianluca Mager in the second round.
Despite the clear starting position, Dominic Thiem was number four in the world as the clear favorite in this third round encounter, it was the Italian who was able to set a first scent brand in front of a frenetic home audience.
Sonego grabbed the first break of the game in round one, subsequently thwarted some half-chances for Thiem and was finally able to fend off a break ball from the Lower Austrian with a score of 5: 4. The consequence: Round one went surprisingly to Sonego, the atmosphere in the Grand Stand Arena was now noticeably heated up.
Thiem fights in sentence two
Dominic Thiem had the upper hand in the second round and found two break chances in the local hero’s second service game. However, the Italian was able to thwart both of them, also because Thiem acted a little too little forcefully in this phase.
The US Open winner from last year made it better minutes later, when the world number four had two break chances against himself at 4: 4, but knew how to thwart them with an offensive game. But Sonego could also be dangerous in the Austrian's next service game, and Thiem was again able to fend off two break chances.
Tiebreaker has to make a decision
Dominic Thiem suddenly had the chance to win the sentence as a setback. After simple mistakes by the Italian, the Lichtenwörther found three set balls with a score of 5: 6, but Sonego was able to fend off all of them with a courageous offensive game. Thiem, however, quarreled more and more with his performance.
In the short decision it was Dominic Thiem who was able to put his stamp on the game - the Austrian scored a 4: 1. But then Thiem made the completely wrong decision twice with the stop, Sonego was able to equalize to 4: 4. From then on, however, the fourth in the world rankings acted wide awake, grabbed two set balls at 6: 4 - and finally transformed the second with powerful forehand shots. So a third sentence had to bring the decision.
The third set in this fight of a tennis match should have the next twist. After a long break, due to the onset of exit restrictions in Rome, the stadium had to be cleared, Sonego played a safe service game and was wide awake in the following service game, Ghiems. And got his chance. Thiem left a 40:15 - Sonego grabbed the break after a forehand error by the Austrian.
Thiem in sentence three with longer breath
Thiem, who also seemed to have been struggling physically, did not give up and immediately got the rebreak - the first Break Thiems on this tennis evening. And it shouldn't have been the last: Sonego overturned something as a result, giving Thiem many slight mistakes. So it was easy for the fourth in the world rankings to add another break and, with a bit of stomachache, pull away with his own serve to 4: 2.
It still shouldn't have been in this insane fight from a tennis match. Thiem already found his first match point at the score of 5: 3 - Sonego thwarted. And then I was there again, made the break in the very last impression and sent the match into overtime. After both players showed no nakedness in their last service games of the game, set three had to be decided in a tie-break.
Rublev's next opponent
In this, Lorenzo Sonego grabbed the first mini-break, Thiem was able to equalize this to 2-2 after a slight forehand error by the Italian. Moments later, it was again a wrong stop by the fourth in the world rankings, which gave Sonego the next mini-break in this all-important tie-break. A mini break that Thiem again knew how to compensate for with two sensational backhand longline shots.
After a slight volleyball error at the score of 5: 5, Lorenzo Sonego had his first match point of the game, which the Italian knew how to use right away. This is the second biggest victory in the career of the world number 33, who was able to defeat world number one Novak Djokovic last year.
In the quarter-finals, Lorenzo Sonego now meets Andrey Rublev, who was able to return the favor to Roberto Bautista Agut in the round of 16 and got his quarter-final ticket 6: 4 and 6: 4. A possible semi-final opponent would be Novak Djokovic, who will face the formally strong Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas on Friday.