The 29-year-old defeated the American 2: 6, 7: 6(2), 7: 6(6) after what he considered a catastrophic first set. He made it 2-0 in head-to-head. In the round of 16, the 2019 Erste Bank Open winner will meet the winner of Wednesday’s game between top seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev and Georgian Nikolos Basilashvili on Thursday.
In the 2:55 hour game, Thiem avoided his third defeat in Vienna after 2014 and 2015 with a strong increase in the course of the match, and with twelve appearances he is in the main competition for the eleventh time. After his triumph three years ago, Thiem was eliminated in 2020 in the quarterfinals against the Russian Andrei Rublev. Last year, the 2020 US Open winner had to pass due to his wrist injury. Now he can continue to hope for his return to the top 100 this week, the current 113th has improved to position 107 in the live ranking for the time being.
Miserable start and catching up
The start of his second duel with Paul in a hall well filled with 7,700 spectators was miserable for Thiem. In the opening game he made two double mistakes, after twelve minutes he was 0:4 behind. He had not scored a single point in the two service games he had played up to that point. Then it went with the serve, but the sentence was gone. Only eleven of the 37 points played went to Thiem.
But in the second round, the Lower Austrian found his game more and more, and Paul’s self-confidence, which was openly displayed at the beginning, also began to crumble a little. The 25-year-old didn’t let three breakballs against him take him by surprise, but he also missed three opportunities to make a preliminary decision himself. In a match that is now at a high level, it went into a tie-break. Thiem set the tone in front of a cheering crowd and used his second chance to equalize the set.
The 17-time Tour Events winner stayed on the ball and created two break chances early in the third set. Paul, of course, pulled his head out of the noose, and the world number 30. turned the tables. As with his first two breaks, he managed to break Thiem’s service to zero, which made the hanger perfect with a double fault. Later, Thiem was only one point away from a 1: 5, but started to catch up in a row. He led 3-0 in the tie-break, then saved two match points and still won.
Second Austrian in the round of 16?
Thiem had recently made it to the semifinals in Gijon and Antwerp and was currently ranking 113. close to its top 100 target. Austria’s number one in Belgium was still playing for the final on Saturday, for Thiem, who often struggled with starting problems, the lack of preparation time in the match hall this time was probably a factor in the effort. He had won the first duel with Paul in four sets under different signs and different conditions in the first round of the 2019 French Open.
The chances that with Dennis Novak another Austrian will reach the round of 16 are not very good. Because in the second Wednesday game after 2 p.m. the Lower Austrian has to play Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was number two. Afterwards (not before 5.30 p.m.) Medvedev meets Basilashvili. Styrian Filip Misolic was eliminated on Monday against Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo, Lower Austrian Jurij Rodionov on Tuesday afternoon against Canadian Denis Shapovalov.
Source: Nachrichten
