French Open 2020: Dominic Thiem after beating Jack Sock in round three
Dominic Thiem has reached the third round at the French Open 2020. The US Open Champion, seeded third, beat Jack Sock from the USA 6: 1, 6: 3 and 7: 6 (6).
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Sep 30, 2020, 04:47 pm
Younger or less successful tennis players may occasionally find themselves slacking off after winning a set. Dominic Thiem is still very young in human years, but has long been a veteran when it comes to professional tennis. His successes speak for himself and him. And so Thiem did not give up after the first set won after less than half an hour, immediately followed up with a service game to zero.
In the end, Thiem moved into the third round of the French Open with a never endangered 6: 1, 6: 3, 7: 6 (6), where he is expected to meet either the Norwegian Casper Ruud or Tommy Paul from the USA on Friday .
Brad Gilbert, former top ten player, coach of Andre Agassi and now the great Twitter sage of the USA, had given his compatriot Sock only a few chances, he was too vulnerable on his backhand. Thiem was known from the four previous games that Sock, on the other hand, can dive properly with the forehand (and also show feeling).
Sock with power and feeling
With the beginning of the second round, the outsider succeeded better, Thiem had to cover longer distances and could not keep his opponent permanently on his backhand. With the score of 3: 4 it became critical for Sock for the first time, the American initially fended off two breakballs, the second with a stop-passing ball combination. The third chance was used by Thiem, who had to make the debut in the following game, but won the second act after a playing time of 73 minutes.
Even now, Thiem did not let up, even if Sock, as a setback, asked tenderly for a break. But then it was Thiem who took the lead 2-1 and a break. After a double fault by Sock, who had a less than warm discussion about the ball print with referee Aurelie Tourte. But: Jack Sock reported again, got the immediate re-break with a flat backhand return.
Thiem against Ruud without an ATP match
In the Austrian's next serve game, Sock found another break chance - Thiem parried. And, for his part, took the supposedly decisive advantage in the seventh game. Sock had other ideas and equalized with the backhand return to make it 4: 4. No special incidents until the tie-break, in which Sock took the lead 4-2 with the first mini-break. A forehand error by Thiem gave Sock the next one. The three-time major champion in doubles could not use three set balls in a row after the 6: 3, the fourth point in a row gave Thiem his first match point.
Against his upcoming opponent, who was determined later on Wednesday, Thiem will definitely be the favorite again. Thiem has never played against Casper Ruud on the ATP tour, but successfully worked his way through the Norwegian at his personal exhibition match tournament in Kitzbühel in the summer. The only meeting with Tommy Paul was in 2019. Thiem won in four sets.
Here is the men's single tableau
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