ATP Vienna: Dominic Thiem beats Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for the first time
Dominic Thiem is in the second round of the ATP Tour 500 tournament in Vienna. The first seeded local hero defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6: 4 and 7: 6 (2) and now plays against Fernando Verdasco.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Oct 22, 2019, 08:12 pm
By Jens Huiber from the Wiener Stadthalle
If Jo-Wilfried Tsonga places his entire fight weight in a forehand, then the result still wrestles an angry whisper to the tennis fans worldwide. Tsongas fight weight has increased slightly over the years, especially in Vienna, the exploits of the French are usually benevolently goutiert. Unless it goes against Dominic Thiem - as on Tuesday evening. However, he gave his audience a good deal of reason to murmur - and went in the third comparison with Tsonga after a 6: 4 and 7: 6 (2) for the first time as the winner of the Court.
Thiem started well but did not reward himself with breakballs after a 0:30 in the first serve Tsonga. The 26-year-old caught up with the score of 3: 3: Tsonga gambled a 40-0 lead, Thiem gave his first break chance with a forehand error. When Passierball to 4: 3 for the hosts came for the first time really good mood. And because it was just that good, Thiem served up the set lead after 47 minutes of play without any major problems.
Tsonga fights off break chances
Tsonga got problems again, a terrific return gave Thiem a break-ball. The French, however, leveled with a perfect attack. A few moments later, Tsonga picked up the next pit as a server, a 0:40 after double faults. And yet managed to get back into the fresh air. With a little luck. But also the courage of despair. At 4: 4, Dominic Thiem went to the next break chance, again in vain: Tsonga was on fire after making the debut. A decision in the tiebreak was not necessarily expected after this game, but what do you know.
Tsonga started with an ace, Thiem lifted the energy level of the hall with the brilliantly played point to 2: 1. The following mini-break came comparatively unadorned. The net band helped the Austrian to 4: 1. After nearly two hours the same scenario, four match balls for Thiem, the first one lands on the side of Tsonga in the net.
He would have been more relaxed after the draw than he would have been in reality, explained the winner following his first win against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. And that's expected to get tough match.
Thiem now against Verdasco
In 2013, the two had already played against each other on the spot. However, under completely different conditions: At that time, Tsonga was the big favorite, which was just barely able to hold on to the emerging local hero in the end. This time it required a wildcard for the French veteran so that he was even assigned a place in the heavily occupied main draw. Thiem, however, leads the set list of the tournament in 2019.
And in the second round he gets to deal with the next man, against whom the victory column is still empty: Fernando Verdasco. The two faced each other four times, most recently in Rome in the spring of 2019 - and the Spaniard has always prevailed so far.