ATP Winston-Salem: Two match points saved! Dominic Thiem fights JJ Wolf down
Dominic Thiem reached the second round of the ATP 250 event in Winston-Salem after a big fight. The Austrian defeated JJ Wolf 6:7 (5), 7:5 and 7:6 (6).
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Aug 23, 2022, 06:18 am
Actually, the expectations of Dominic Thiem in the run-up to Winston-Salem's ATP 250 event were not too great. If the man from Lichtenwörth hadn't screwed it up himself with his statements a few hours before his opening match against JJ Wolf. According to Thiem, he has tried to raise the level again in the past few weeks. And he did that quite well.
At his first appearance on hardcourt in almost exactly 18 months, the Austrian initially had a hard time. Wolf had chosen an extremely aggressive approach for the first round duel with the Lower Austrian, which should have paid off initially. The American managed the first break of the game, and the 23-year-old quickly pulled away to 4-1.
Thiem comes back in sentence one
Thiem was unimpressed by this: The Austrian has meanwhile won 12 of the last 15 points - and equalized with three game wins in a row to make it 4: 4. That should have been the breaks in round one, Wolf served cheerfully at the front, Thiem followed suit with nerves of steel even in tricky situations. The logical consequence: Section one had to be decided in a tie-break.
In this, JJ Wolf managed a perfect start under difficult conditions - more than 80 percent humidity in North Carolina made the two players visibly sweat. The American quickly pulled away to 5: 1 with the first mini-break in the back - and didn't let this advantage be taken away. With a fine one-two punch, the 23-year-old finally closed the game to win the set 7: 6 (5).
Thiem with a strong second sentence
What stood out: Dominic Thiem was able to cause a lot of damage, especially with the serve, in the first sentence alone the Austrian had eight aces. When the first serve was in the field, the man from Lichtenwörth scored 93% of the points. And, even more importantly, the 28-year-old also put a few percentage points more speed on the forehand side. Of course, Thiem did not succeed in this style of play without his own mistakes.
So Thiem went behind in round two. And should have to struggle at first: Wolf found breakballs when the score was 1: 1, Thiem in turn used them to make it 5: 3. And a little later had the chance to close the second sentence with his own serve. Without success: Wolf increased the number of strokes again and fought his way back into the set with his third break ball of the game. Thiem had now visibly gained hope, the Austrian remained focused - and at the score of 6: 5 benefited from an extremely sloppy service game by his opponent: the Lower Austrian was able to break out to zero after four mistakes by his opponent to win the set 7: 5.
Thiem nerves of steel
Little has changed in the key in this mathc: dominant service games, hardly any access for the receiver. There was no break until the score was 3:2, then the game had to be interrupted for almost two hours due to the onset of rain. Thiem came back, broke immediately, but had to give it back immediately. A little later it was clear: A tie-break had to make the decision in set three as well.
This was not for the faint of heart: Thiem quickly pulled away to 4: 1, Wolf countered with five points in a row and found two match points when the score was 6: 4. Now it was Dominic Thiem's turn again: The Austrian scored four points in a row himself and thus fixed the strong 6: 7 (5), 7: 5 and 7: 6 (6) success. Grigor Dimitrov is now waiting in the round of 32.