Erste Bank Open Vienna: Dominic Thiem at the start against Kei Nishikori
Dominic Thiem had a difficult quarter at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna - in round 1 it goes directly against the Japanese Kei Nishikori.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Oct 24, 2020, 12:29 pm
The former world number four Nishikori is currently only listed at 36th place in the world after many and long injury breaks.
In direct comparison with Thiem, however, he leads 3: 2 - among other things, he won the quarter-finals in Vienna in 2018 with 6: 3, 6: 1. The last encounter, at the ATP Finals 2018, was won by Thiem.
The top seeded Novak Djokovic meets compatriot Filip Krajinovic at the beginning.
Stan Wawrinka has to deal with Cristian Garin - the winner could wait for Thiem. In the quarter-finals, Thiem could then face the currently strong Jannik Sinner or Andrey Rublev. A possible semi-final opponent could be the fourth seeded Daniil Medvedev.
Difficult tasks for Dennis Novak and Jurij Rodionov too
Still playing: Dennis Novak, vial wildcard in the field, against Kevin Anderson and Jurij Rodionov, also equipped with a wildcard, against Denis Shapovalov (seeded eight). Jan-Lennard Struff meets Stefanos Tsitsipas (seated on three!).
"There's not too much to say about that, it was clear that every match would be difficult. But I don't feel balanced, two tournament favorites don't meet. Dominic Thiem's quarter is strong and he'll have to struggle there," said tournament director Herwig Straka in an initial statement. "There have been a lot of great matches from the first round. That's what we expected."
More information will follow!