On Monday, the Lower Austrian lost in the first round of the ATP 1000 clay court tournament in Madrid to the Scottish veteran Andy Murray 3: 6, 4: 6 and is still waiting for his first win in an ATP tournament since May 12, 2021 For the first time since March 3, 2014, the long-injured Lower Austrian will no longer appear in the top 100 in the coming week.
In the duel between the former world number one from Great Britain and the former number three in the world on the well-attended center court, Thiem had to fend off a breakball in the second game of the first set. After that he found his way into the game and also showed some improved forehand shots. Thiem was still a long way from the old precision. Murray, who was strong on serve, got the first break to make it 4:2 in a thoroughly entertaining game. With a score of 3: 5 from Thiem’s point of view, a 30: 0 lead didn’t help either, Murray finally served to win the set.
Thiem was unable to stop the many unforced forehand errors in the second set after his long injury to his right wrist. This cost him, among other things, a possible break to make it 2-0, in which wildcard owner Murray was able to fend off three break balls and still had the upper hand after 10:30 minutes. Thiem then gave up his service game and should not recover from it. The 34-year-old Murray, who had been thrown back by injuries in recent years, finally served to make it 6: 4.
A total of 33 unforced errors, 24 of them with the forehand, were ultimately too much for Thiem against a solid playing Murray, currently number 78 in the world. In the coming week, at the Masters in Rome, he will make his next attempt at the long-awaited sense of achievement on sand.
Source: Nachrichten
