ATP Rio de Janeiro: Dominic Thiem after comeback victory over Jaume Munar in the quarter-finals
Dominic Thiem is in the quarter-finals of the ATP 500 tournament in Rio de Janeiro. The top seeded Austrian beat Jaume Munar after a tough fight 6: 7 (5), 6: 3 and 6: 4. ( You can read about the game in our live ticker ).
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Feb 21, 2020, 05:12 am
Dominic Thiem and Jaume Munar met for the first time outside of Barcelona. The Austrian had prevailed twice in the Spanish metropolis, but the 26-year-old knew about the potential of his Spanish second-round opponent: "Munar is a clay court specialist, who lost many close, good games against absolute top people, especially last year."
Munar's existing clay court skills should also show up early in Rio de Janeiro. However, the 22-year-old missed two break chances in the first set, and Thiem could not use his only break option - so a tie break had to make the decision. In this, the Lichtenwörther was able to convert a 1: 3 deficit into a 4: 3 lead, but Munar had the better end: The Spaniard secured the quick decision with 7: 5.
The first set win against Thiem gave the world ranking 99. visibly self-confidence. Munar grabbed the first break of the entire match in the second round, but immediately had to accept the rebreak to 1: 2. Now the Austrian, who was no longer able to see any of the knee problems from the first round , found the game better and took Munar again to serve 3-2.
Thiem presented in sentence three
The world ranking fourth, who could reach a new career high with a semi-finals in Rio de Janeiro, knew how to transport this lead. After another break at 6: 3, Thiem was even able to present in round three with his own service.
At the start of the third set, the 26-year-old from Lower Austria had to fight much more than his opponent, who was four years younger, but Thiem survived all critical phases and took advantage of the first break opportunity in the all-important section for the 4-2 lead.
Thiem in the quarterfinals against Lean
But just at that point Thiem sprinkled the worst game of the entire encounter and consequently had to accept the rebreak to 3: 4. This faux pas should remain without consequences: Thiem took Munar off at the best time and won after 2:41 hours with 6: 7 (5), 6: 3 and 6: 4.
In the quarterfinals, Thiem will now face Gianluca Mager. The Italian qualifier prevailed in the second round against Joao Domingues in two sets - the first meeting of the two is scheduled as the third match after 7:00 p.m. CET on the Court Guga Kuerten.
You can read about the game against Munar in our live ticker .