Dominic Thiem at the Erste Bank Open - Suddenly stopped by Blase and Rublev
Dominic Thiem only really got going at the Erste Bank Open, when the defending champion was stopped. About a strong Andrey Rublev and a stubborn blister on the ball of the foot.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Nov 01, 2020, 07:51 pm
By Michael Rothschädl from the Wiener Stadthalle
There are no two opinions that Dominic Thiem is the absolute darling of the public at the Erste Bank Open in the Wiener Stadthalle. The exact 1000 spectators who secured a ticket for a tournament that was very special at the time of COVID-19 also created a great atmosphere at the Austrian's performances. Accordingly, many were disappointed when the mission to defend their title was already over after appearance number three.
It had looked so good for the man from Lichtenwörth. After the already usual slow start to the tournament and an anything but sovereign opening success against Vitaliy Sachko, who "presented himself much better than his world ranking position suggests", the local hero delivered in his second game against the clay court specialist Cristian Garin a " really good game from start to finish ", as the Austrian should sum up after his quarter-finals.
In fact, the world number three against the South American again showed those virtues that had already brought him to his greatest career success at the US Open: Intelligently used backhand slice, massive forehand projectiles and of course the backhand longline ball, which so often had a certain fluctuation range of is subject to unbelievable profit to the point of inexplicable source of error.
Rublev wide awake at the right moment
Even in the quarter-finals, against one of the strongest players on the tour, against one "of the three to five best players in the world at the moment", as Thiem himself had discovered before his encounter with Andrey Rublev, the backhand worked brilliantly for the Lower Austrian. In the first round, the 27-year-old had slightly better chances, but missed some opportunities for the early break in the initial phase and subsequently, with a few devious returns on his opponent's second serve, gave himself more chances to serve his game Opponent.
That should take revenge. In a tie-break in which both players were supposed to show their best tennis, there were probably two points that decided the first set - and thus the match. Once Thiem had bad luck that a netball should influence the rally to make it 4: 4 in favor of the Russian, then the Austrian made the wrong decision with a backhand stop. And so Rublev secured the contested set one in the tiebreak.
Thiem pauses until the ATP finals
Thiem, who seemed to be struggling with increasing pain, should not recover from this. Round two became a clear matter for Rublev, who had now played himself into a real frenzy. The 23-year-old made it into the final of the Erste Bank Open on Saturday, is only one victory away from title number five in the calendar year - and will consequently and fully deserve serve at the Nitto ATP Finals.
Dominic Thiem will also give his last hurray in the 2020 calendar year. As it became known on Saturday, the Austrian had to withdraw his start at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Paris Bercy if he wanted to cure the injury to his foot as well as possible to go to the unofficial tennis world championships in the London O2 arena to be able to perform completely fit again. In any case, Thiem's appearances in Vienna give reason to be confident that the third in the world rankings will again be among the favorites this year. Provided that fitness (and probably Andrey Rublev as well) allows it.