Dominic Thiem against Andy Murray - three times over the full distance
Dominic Thiem and Andy Murray will meet for the fourth time on Friday (not before 8:30 a.m.CEST, live on Sky and in our live ticker) in the quarter-finals of the ATP Tour 500 tournament. In previous encounters, the two have always had to make a decision.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Oct 03, 2019, 03:39 pm
The preconditions before the quarter-finals between Dominic Thiem and Andy Murray seem clear: on the one hand, the Austrian tournament favorite, who knew how to convince at his previous two appearances in Beijing, performed sections of the game against Richard Gasquet, especially in the second set. The lecture against Zhizhen Zhang was also very confident, the Chinese were not granted a single breakball.
On the other hand, Andy Murray continued his ideas in Zhuhai last week. And they were spectacular, but also very exhausting. In Murray's round of 16 win over Cameron Norrie, the first two sets took just under two and a half hours. So Thiem is the favorite in this fourth meeting, because the world ranking is not lying: there the 26-year-old is in fifth place, Murray is listed after his long injury break in 503.
In previous matches, however, the signs were more towards Murray. A look back …
Rotterdam, 2014, round of 16: Murray - Thiem 6: 4, 3: 6, 6: 3
Not the preferred surface for Dominic Thiem in the hall of Rotterdam, on which the outsider struggles better and better into the match after a respectful first set. It is mainly the backhand longline that causes problems for Murray as the game continues, but the favorite is still the pusher in the decisive phases.
Miami, 2015, quarter-finals: Murray - Thiem 3: 6, 6: 4, 6: 1
This time Thiem gets off to a better start, as it were at Murray's home game, which is preparing in Miami in the winter months. Thiem is still lacking consistency to really endanger the Scots.
Barcelona, 2017, semi-finals: Thiem - Murray 6: 2, 3: 6, 6: 4
That is Thiem's way of doing things, and self-confidence is also greatest in ashes. Even if Murray is number one in the world at this point. Thiem dominates from the baseline, but always convinces with soulful stops.