US Open: Dominic Thiem gives Felix Auger-Aliassime no chance - second quarter-finals in New York
Dominic Thiem is in the quarter-finals of the US Open for the second time in his career. The Austrian defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime 7: 6 (4), 6: 1 and 6: 1. You can read the game here in our live ticker .
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Sep 07, 2020, 11:18 pm
"He's a great player and has no real weaknesses." Dominic Thiem showed a lot of respect for the aspiring Canadian in the run-up to his round of 16 encounter against Felix Auger-Aliassime. In New York, the 20-year-old had shown impressive performances, especially in rounds two and three, and only played 14 games against Andy Murray and Corentin Moutet.
But Thiem had hardly had to fight at the US Open and only had to accept the first set loss of the tournament in the third round against Marin Cilic after two outstanding rounds - but the Croatian could not prevent the ultimately deserved success.
Thiem wins set one after up and down
Auger-Aliassime started a little nervous in his first Grand Slam round of 16 and had to fend off a total of four breakballs in his first two service games. But Thiem was also confronted with a breakball early on, defended it with a strong forehand and made the first break of the game to 3-2 in the next game.
Just as he served to win the set at 5: 4, Thiem sprinkled a miserable service game and gave Auger-Aliassime a break with four unforced errors, which the Canadian was able to confirm after defending two breakballs. Thiem then sent the sentence to a tiebreak - in this, the Lichtenwörther was given a mini-break to 3: 1 achieved by an incredible backhand, only to win the first section a little later thanks to a successful challenge with 7: 6 (4).
Visibly touched, Auger-Aliassime surrendered his service game to make it 2-0 from his point of view at the beginning of the second set. The mood at the world number 21. was not necessarily better after a breakball was awarded in the following game, Thiem, on the other hand, gained noticeably more self-confidence in the Arthur Ashe Stadium and presented the Canadian with ever greater problems with a skillful mixture of lightning-fast basic strokes and slower slice balls.
Thiem dominates sentences two and three
Thiem missed another breakball at 3-0, but only two games later the world number three took his opponent, who was now clearly too error-prone, the serve to 5-1 and then safely served to 6-1. While Auger-Aliassime continued to play at the moderate level of the opening movement, Thiem increased significantly in section two - eight winners with only six unforced errors were an indication of a significantly improved performance by the Austrian.
In set three, Thiem had a dream start, as in the previous round - the 27-year-old took Auger-Aliassime's serve to 1-0 and a little later added another break to 4-1. The Austrian could not take this advantage - the Lower Austrian made his third break in the third set and after 2:07 hours fixed the 7: 6 (4), 6: 1 and 6: 1 success with his first match point.
"The first set was very important. I was very nervous before the match because I played against an incredible player. Sets two and three were definitely the best so far," said Thiem after the match. When asked about the Djokovic incident, Thiem said: "His end does not matter to me. Regardless of whether the" Big Three "are there, we all want to win the title."
Alex de Minaur is waiting in the quarter-finals
With this surprisingly clear victory, Thiem bought the ticket for his second US Open quarter-finals after 2018. In this, the Austrian will meet Alex de Minaur on Wednesday, and Vasek Pospisil in his round of 16 with 7: 6 (6), 6: 3 and 6-2 defeated. Thiem leads 2-0 in head to head - in 2017 the three-time Grand Slam finalist in New York clearly won in three sets, a year later de Minaur was able to win at least one set at the Davis Cup in Graz. "He has had an incredible development behind him. I will try to play my honor," said Thiem in view of the task ahead.