French Open: Dominic Thiem against Karen Khachanov - Paris again, but quite different
Dominic Thiem will meet Karen Khachanov in the quarter-finals of the French Open on Wednesday (2 p.m. in our live ticker ). He first played against the Russian. And lost.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Jun 06, 2019, 11:14 am
By Jens Huiber from Paris
If Court 4 at Stade Roland Garros had a doorknob, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem would have given it a hand on Tuesday. The defending champion's training session was scheduled for noon, Nadal did not exhaust the full hour. Thiem, on the other hand, was late for a few minutes, but was received with very friendly applause. Nicolas Massu was also to get it - as in the most recent training sessions, Thiem decided not to use a hitting partner and hit the balls with his Chilean coach.
Is this also a bond with Nadal? After all, the eleven-time Paris champion likes to rely on the services of Carlos Moya, his trainer, during training. Massu did his part flawlessly. The balls from Thiem also flew nicely, the Chilean acknowledged this with a bravo staccato.
Khachanov with success in Paris-Bercy
Targeted preparation would have been difficult for the upcoming opponent: Karen Khachanov offers a rather unique game, comparable perhaps to that of Juan Martin del Potro. But the Russian had taken it out of the competition late on Monday evening. Khachanov will be a member of the top ten for the first time in the next edition of the ATP world rankings. This is also due to the 1,000 points that the 23-year-old took from Paris-Bercy last fall. Successes against Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic could only serve as a benchmark again in the semi-finals of Roland Garros 2019, but in the semi-finals Khachanov had also defeated Dominic Thiem at the time. And not even scarce.
# BETATHOMEFO #
The current season is a bit sluggish for Karen Khachanov. The best result is the round of the last eight in Indian Wells, most recently in Madrid and Rome against Fernando Verdasco.
Thiem twice on the Lenglen
The success against del Potro will still be a warning signal for Dominic Thiem. The Argentine Novak Djokovic was on the verge of defeat in Rome. And in the round of 16 against Khachanov on the Suzanne Lenglen court once again the audience behind. Khachanov did not contest all of this. The Lenglen will also be played on Wednesday (second match after 2 p.m. in our live ticker), Thiem has already won two matches there: against Tommy Paul and against Pablo Cuevas.
How much the match against Khachanov will have in common with that in Paris-Bercy also depends on the weather: the warmer, the faster the seats. So much the better for the Russian. However, the longer the match lasts, the more this should play into the Austrian's cards: physically, Dominic Thiem seems to be at the absolute height of his creative power these days. Nicolas Massu certainly noticed that during the joint training session.