Dominic Thiem on serve from below: "He shouldn't have apologized"
With Dominic Thiem and Nikoloz Basilashvili, the top seeded player as well as the defending champion of the Hamburg European Open have moved into the quarterfinals at Rothenbaum. Thiem defeated Marton Fucsovics in two sets while Basilashvili had to go the full distance in his second round match against Juan Ignacio Londero.
by Florian Heer from Hamburg
last edit: Jul 25, 2019, 01:11 pm
It was a convincing performance by Dominic Thiem on Wednesday afternoon in Hamburg. The number 4 in the ATP world rankings sovereignly entered the round of the last eight with 7: 5, 6: 1 via Marton Fucsovics after an hour and 36 minutes. Only the chances of the own breakballs gave reason to ask.
Many opportunities to break
"On the one hand, it is of course bitter when I have given up all the chances to break, on the other hand, of course, I also have in my head that I am doing many things right because I have got so many chances to break", Thiem explained in his subsequent press conference. The 25-year-old Austrian was able to use 3 of a total of 12 breakballs in his game.
“He fended off some well, but I also played some really well and then narrowly missed the forehand or backhand. I had said to myself that I would normally use any of them and that's how it happened. ”
Surcharge from below? Ok for Thiem
Thiem did not let an "underarm serve" from Hungary upset him. Fucsovics then apologized very politely for the serve technique he uses, which seems to have become increasingly established on the tennis courts of the world in recent months.
"No, I don't think he should have apologized," Thiem said clearly. "Sometimes I have a habit of looking at the pages when I prepare for the return and he was serving at that very moment. I think otherwise I would have gotten the serve back. It is perfectly fine. There are really situations where it can be a good tactical move. "
Next hurdle: Rublev
In the quarterfinals, Thiem meets Andrey Rublev. The 21-year-old Russian defeated the Norwegian #NextGenATP star Casper Ruud 3: 6, 7: 5, 6: 3 in the first match of the day. The Lower Austrian won both previous encounters with the Muscovite.
"I will try to act against Fucsovics like in the second set today," Thiem commented on his next challenge. “Of course it will be a completely different match. Andrey can beat Winner from almost any position on the court. My goal will be to get him out of his comfort zone. ”
In the last match of the day on the center court, 2018 champion Nikoloz Basilashvili defeated the Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero 6: 4, 3: 6, 6: 3. The Georgian at number four now meets Jeremy Chardy, who fought his French compatriot Richard Gasquet with 7-6 (5), 7-5 under the blazing Hamburg sun.
Zverev brothers as a double highlight
A total of seven matches of the double competition were on the program on the outdoor courts on the Rothenbaum. Alexander and Mischa Zverev lost 6: 4, 3: 6, 9:11 before full positions on Court M1 against German qualifiers Julian Lenz and Daniel Masur. Alexander Zverev ended the game unfortunate due to a double fault in the champions tie-break after 1 hour and 28 minutes.
"We could not use two of our own match balls and the other two played well," said Mischa, who had to withdraw from the individual competition due to health reasons and admitted that he was not yet back at 100 percent. "Unfortunately Hamburg was a little unfortunate this year, but Sascha is still there in the singles and hopefully he will stay here until Sunday."
Kramies back on the road to success
However, it went better for the reigning French Open champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies, who won their first match since 7: 5, 6: 7 (9), 12:10 against Roman Jebavy from the Czech Republic and the Dutchman Matwe Middelkoop their Grand Slam triumph.
"It was not so easy to resume normal touring after the success in Paris," revealed Mies. "We lost twice in the first round before the lawn season, and now suddenly to Paris three times in a row, and then you think so what's going on now? But of course we also know that this can always happen in doubles. It’s so fast. Even today you could see again how quickly the momentum turns back and forth. Of course, we have now felt a little pressure. So it's nice to be back on the red ashes. We have good memories of that, and now we hope that it will continue successfully. ”
In the second round, the duo Pablo Cuevas from Uruguay and Chilean Nicolas Jarry are waiting for number two.
Marach / Melzer start Hamburg campaign with victory
After their final defeat in Umag, Oliver Marach and Jürgen Melzer are also back on the road to success. The three seeded Austrians defeated the Italian Marco Cecchinato and Benoit Paire from France 6-2, 6-1 at the Hamburg tournament opener. The encounter ended after only 46 minutes.