ATP Winston-Salem: Dominic Thiem against Grigor Dimitrov - no ghost game this time
Dominic Thiem meets Grigor Dimitrov in the second round of the ATP Tour 250 tournament in Winston-Salem (live in our live ticker from one o'clock). Thiem has a negative record against the Bulgarian.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Aug 23, 2022, 11:17 am
The last time Dominic Thiem and Grigor Dimitrov met on a competition court, the two were able to concentrate fully on the match and the finesse of their opponent. Because the round of 16 at the Australian Open 2021 was held without spectators, even the Rod Laver Arena is not much fun, especially in the summer heat. And given the fact that Thiem was able to catch up a 0: 2 set deficit against Nick Kyrgios in front of a full ranks just two days before.
The mood in Winston-Salem will certainly be better on Tuesday evening local time, Dominic Thiem already caused a lot of drama with his opening win against JJ Wolf, after defending two match balls he still won in the tie-break of the third set. The Austrian was just as successful in Gstaad against Hugo Gaston, the nimble Frenchman.
So the nerves of the US Open champion of 2020 are steeled, and when it comes to fitness, Thiem almost seems to be at the zenith of his creative power again. The playful finesse will still come, which is also urgently needed against Grigor Dimitrov.
Dimitrov leads the record against Thiem
Because the Bulgarian has won four of the previous six matches against Thiem, the one in Melbourne at the beginning of last year and also the two before that in Paris-Bercy 2019 and at the ATP Finals 2017. Thiem's last win against Dimitrov also hung by a thread for a long time , 2017 in Madrid, the Austrian seemed to have already turned onto the losing road.
On the other hand: Dimitrov is seeded in first place in Winston-Salem, but the season so far hasn't been that great. In the North American hard court summer, two wins (against Adrian Mannarino in Washington and Alexis Galarneau in Montreal) are offset by three losses (in Washington against Sebastian Korda, in Montreal against Alex de Minaur and most recently in Cincinnati against Denis Shapovalov). Grigor Dimitrov brings a little more match practice than Dominic Thiem to the round of 16 in Winston-Salem. But that shouldn't be the deciding factor in the winner.