Dominic Thiem - "I'm very sorry for him"
Dominic Thiem is in the semi-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells for the first time. The Austrian benefited from the withdrawal of opponent Gael Monfils and meets Milos Raonic on Saturday.
by APA
last edit: Mar 15, 2019, 08:44 am
Instead of a game against a Gael Monfils that was recently in top form, it was just a short show training session: Dominic Thiem reached the semi-finals of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells without a fight on Thursday evening. The Lower Austria seeded as number 7 benefited from an Achilles tendon injury to the Frenchman.
"It's not nice. I think it would have been a very tough but also interesting match," Thiem said on the pitch to the disappointed spectators. "We both played very well in the first three rounds and I was really looking forward to it. I'm very sorry for him. I hope he will be fit again soon." Monfils, the last Rotterdam winner and Dubai semi-finalist, had previously gone to the center court and apologized to the fans.
"I tried to hit while warming up, but I've had a very painful left hamstring injury for a few days. I've had many injuries in my career, so I had to make the better decision for myself," said Monfils.
Training session with Massu on the center court
Thiem had played for a semi-final in the California desert two years ago, but then she lost to Stan Wawrinka 6: 7 in the third set. "But I didn't want to get into the semi-finals that way," Thiem recalled. The eleven-time tournament winner is thus in the semifinals without losing a set and he used the space for a 40-minute training session with touring coach Nicolas Massu. "This is the first time I'm on center court this year and in front of a great backdrop, so I'll do normal training."
In his fifth semifinals in the second highest tournament category after the Grand Slams, Thiem now faces Canadian Milos Raonic, who previously eliminated Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB) 6: 3.6: 4. After Madrid (Finali 2017 and 2018), Rome (semifinals 2017) and Paris-Bercy (semifinals 2018), it is the first 1000cc outside of Europe where Günter Bresnik's protégé has made it into the final round.
No match with Monfils for the third time
Unusual is the fact that in the seventh encounter with Monfils there was no match for the third time: Monfils had not competed in the Cincinnati round of 16 in 2016, Thiem had to cancel in Doha the previous year before the semifinals. In the head-to-head, it remains 4: 0 for Thiem, since the ATP does not evaluate non-combat victories.
Thiem has 360 ATP points and $ 354,000 gross prize money. Against Raonic, Thiem has lost both previous matches: In 2016, Thiem lost 3: 6.4: 6 in the quarter-finals of Cincinnati and 6: 7 (5), 3: 6 in the group phase of the ATP Tour Finals.
After a season so far mixed, Thiem is now climbing vigorously in the Race to London: The French Open finalist of the previous year had come to California with only three wins of the season and four losses. Now Thiem jumps from 90th place to at least 18th place. The Lichtenwörther now has a day off, as the other two quarter-finals will be played in Indian Wells on Friday. In the lower half of the grid, one hopes for the "dream semi-final" Roger Federer against Rafael Nadal. Before that, Federer met Poland's Hubert Hurkacz, Nadal met Russia's Karen Khachanov (12).
However, the second Austrian entry in Indian Wells came to an end on Thursday: Oliver Marach and his Croatian partner Mate Pavic had to surrender in the semifinals as in the previous year. The 38-year-old Styrian and Pavic lost to Nikola Mektic / Horacio Zeballos (CRO / ARG) 6: 7 (3), 6: 7 (3).