Finally! Dominic Thiem can still win

After last week’s dismal performance in Szekesfehervar, Dominic Thiem presented a much better side at the start of the tennis challenger in Zadar. The world number 90. At the start of the outdoor clay court tournament, he defeated the Serb Filip Krajinovic, who had fallen to position 446 in the rankings after an injury, in two sets.

• also read: Why the signs point to the end of Dominic Thiem’s ​​career

The top seed Thiem won 6:2, 7:6 (4) after a fairly solid performance and 100 minutes. It was the 30-year-old Lichtenwörther’s first victory at ATP level, who triumphed at the US Open in 2020. Previously he had only won an invitation match against Francisco Cerundolo (Arg) and the Davis Cup duel with Irishman Michael Agwi.

There could be an Austrian duel in the round of 16 in Zadar: Thiem will now face the winner of the game Lukas Neumayer against Mathys Erhard (Fra). It will take further improvement because Thiem is still far from where he wants to be. At least this time he wasn’t so careless with his numerous break opportunities. He used seven of twelve. That was the key. In the first set, the 17-time ATP tournament winner fired up the score at 2:2 and created a clear score of 6:2.

In the second round, Schlendrian crept into a 4-1 lead, Krajinovic once again fought to catch up and, after defending three match points, equalized to make it 5-5. Thiem was initially unable to capitalize on another break to make it 6:5, and the next loss of serve followed promptly. It went to the tiebreak, in which the Lower Austrian used his fourth match point to make it 7/4. Pure relief.