French Open: Dominic Thiem for the fourth time in the quarter-finals after beating Gael Monfils
Dominic Thiem is also in the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2019. The 25-year-old from Lower Austria defeated local hero Gael Monfils with 6: 4, 6: 4 and 6: 2.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Jun 03, 2019, 05:17 pm
By Jens Huiber from Paris
Who needs a roof when the rain is not as strong as on Monday afternoon at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris. Dominic Thiem and Gael Monfils had to wait a few minutes before the start of their round of 16 at the French Open 2019 - with the first point, the gentle precipitation was then gone. Thiem hadn't let the rest of him upset him or the incident with Serena Williams, which had meanwhile been discussed fairly well - and went 6: 4, 6: 4 and 6: 2 to the quarter-finals of the second grand for the fourth time in a row. Slam tournament of the year.
Anyone who goes into a match with a 0: 4 record like Monfils against Thiem is probably primarily interested in a good start. Monfils, however, made four double mistakes in his first two service games and was 0: 3 behind after eight minutes with double break. The Frenchman, who was emerging in this early phase, had no means and no game idea that could endanger Thiem. Because the Austrian clearly set the pace from the baseline. Even if Monfils made a first sign of life with the break at 3: 5. And thus immediately awakened the audience from their afternoon sleep. After exactly half an hour of play, the first round went 6: 4 to Thiem.
Thiem with tweener
The second act radiated a different flair, Monfils was in the game from the beginning, the fans in the now fully occupied grandstands of Court Philippe Chatrier as well. Until 4: 4 - Thiem turns a 30: 0 of the server Monfils into the first break of the set. After 69 minutes, two-thirds of Dominic Thiem's quarter-final rent had come in.
# BETATHOMEFO #
A few minutes later, the fans couldn't help but give Thiem a loud round of applause: he had initially answered a stop by Monfils with a counter-stop, then had to return to the baseline, where he converted the ball to the point with a tweener. Monfils also applauded. By the way, Thiem also won the break to 2-1. The Frenchman remained combative, fending off breakballs to make it 1-4 - but still had to show special strikes to endanger Thiem. In addition to the usual punchy baseline game, it also showed one thing: fast legs. And strong nerves.
Best match by Dominic Thiem
With the break to 5: 2 the last resistance of Monfils was broken. After 1:48 hours of play, Thiem served for victory. It is the fourth consecutive quarter-final of the French Open. And Dominic Thiem has never lost at this stage. In the round of eight, the winner of the game between Karen Khachanov and Juan Martin del Potro is waiting for Thiem on Wednesday. The Austrian has never won against both - but never played at the French Open in Paris.
This was by far his best match, Thiem said in an on-court interview with Fabrice Santoro. It's always fun to play against Gael Monfils, who is one of the nicest and fairest players on the tour. The fact that Dominic Thiem let Santoro coax a few French words this time spoke for a really successful Monday afternoon in Paris.