US Open: Dominic Thiem confidently moves into round three
Dominic Thiem has safely reached the third round at the US Open 2020. The Austrian beat Sumit Nagal 6: 3, 6: 3 and 6: 2. On Saturday, Thiem will meet Marin Cilic, the 2014 winner, who defeated Norvert Gombos in four sets.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Sep 03, 2020, 09:55 pm
Here you can read the match in the live ticker!
Dominic Thiem allowed himself a few extra minutes on the tennis court on his 27th birthday, which he celebrated at the National Tennis Center in New York as in previous years: In the first set he let Sumit Nagal after a 3-0 Start to equalize again, in round two Thiem could not serve at first with a score of 5: 2 (to then win the set with a break).
Both players suffered a defeat a year ago at Arthur Ashe Stadium: Nagal against Roger Federer , Thiem was weakened by an illness and lost to Thomas Fabbiano. The Austrian, who was seeded in second place, did not take his opponent lightly, Thiem was especially warned about Nagal's forehand. On the other hand, this blow is also perhaps the greatest strength of the Australian Open finalist of this year. Not to mention Thiem's fitness level, which doesn't need to shy away from comparison on the ATP tour.
Thiem with a flawless record against Cilic
In his first match, Thiem only had to go over two sets, opponent Jaume Munar gave up after losing the second round. Against Nadal it went properly into a third act, Thiem had break chances again, took a 2-0 lead. And in the last sentence I never thought of a comeback. Thiem dominated with serve and forehand, and when he got the chance, he went online after his hits. Nagal, who a few days ago was in the quarter-finals of the first Challenger in Prague and won a set against Stan Wawrinka, found no means to endanger the favorite.
Thiem missed his first match ball after 1:56 hours with a backhand error, with the second the forehand landed in the net. But the third was sitting: Nagal put a volley out.
In the third round, Dominic Thiem will play against Marin Cilic on Saturday. After his comeback success against Denis Kudla, the 2014 winner also had serious problems against Norbert Gombos, but prevailed in four sets. Thiem has played against Cilic twice and won just as often, most recently in Montreal in 2019. The first meeting took place in Brisbane in 2016.