Dominic Thiem beats Milos Raonic and is in the final of Indian Wells
Dominic Thiem reached the final of the ATP Masters 1000 in Indian Wells on Saturday. The current number eight in the world played big against the Canadian Milos Raonic and won in a little over two and a half hours with 7: 6 (3), 6: 7 (3), 6: 4 ( HERE you can read the live ticker here ).
by Lukas Zahrer
last edit: Mar 16, 2019, 10:09 pm
In the final, Thiem now faces Roger Federer, who moved into the final without a fight after Rafael Nadal's withdrawal . The game will be broadcast live on Servus TV from 11.30 p.m., Thiem coach Günter Bresnik will act as a co-commentator.
It is Thiem's 19th career final, and his opponent is already playing his 153rd. Thiem will definitely improve to fifth place in the ranking. Should he win the tournament in Indian Wells, he would even drop his career high from fourth.
Thiem starts strong and wins first tie break
In the first set, both players did not show any nakedness on their own serve. It was even Raonic who wobbled a bit more in his service games, but there was nothing to get except for a short 15:30. Again and again he scattered strong volleys or saved himself with his serve. Without a single break chance for both, it went into the tie break.
There Raonic made a double mistake right at the first point, Thiem in turn pulled away with a terrific backhand winner to 5: 1, and a little later secured the set with 7: 3.
Milos Raonic with a lot of luck for sentence adjustment
In the second round, the same picture quickly emerged: Raonic only had to fend off a breakball at 2-2, but did so with an ace. Apart from that, it was the former Wimbledon finalist who seemed a bit safe on serve. But again there was a tie-break.
There, too, the actors gave themselves nothing, but then it got bitter. Raonic got into trouble at the 4: 3 standpoint, but with a net roller he got the mini break. A little later he got the second set 7-3 out of nowhere.
Dominic Thiem moves into the final
In the third round, Thiem had to make his debut in his first service game, but was able to make it 1-1. Raonic served up front, but made a sag at 2-2. With outstanding returns, Thiem used his second break chance, the third in the game, and forced his opponent to make a forehand error after a long rally.
Thereafter Thiem defended his lead well, but came under pressure again when serving. With a breakball Raonics he benefited from a slight mistake, a little later he converted his second match ball.
Thiem made only nine Unforced Errors in total, he didn't afford a single one in the entire first sentence. He now has 600 ATP counters and gross prize money of $ 686,000.