Against Croatian Thiem he had given up the only set in New York en route to the final. World number three Austria, who last failed twice in the Roland Garros final against Rafael Nadal, will face qualifier Jack Sock in the second round.
Sock, who beat compatriot Reilly Opelka in three sets early on, is currently only 310th in the ATP rankings after a long dry streak. Thiem remains against him with a 3-1 win record.
“I love this tournament”
The Austrian was satisfied with his successful start to the tournament: “Of course, it was a very short break after New York, where I achieved one of the biggest goals of my career. But I love this tournament here. How I played today makes me very happy. That was a great opponent. “
The autumn conditions and the quick change from hard to sand couldn’t stop Thiem, as he said in the ORF interview: “I found the pace well, I coped well with the conditions. It’s good for me to be able to work from further behind in slow conditions. Against a true champion, I can be very happy with this victory. It’s a lot more fun with viewers, it’s not that lonely. “
Dominic Thiem in an interview
Thiem was quite satisfied with his start at the French Open
Slow start
With a powerful game, the Austrian got Cilic’s first serve for the first break, but had to give up his serve to make it 1-1. As a result, the 32-year-old Croatian played varied and strong. Thiem could only counteract it, but without being dangerous himself, he acted with caution.
Thiem gets the first sentence
With a break to 5: 4 Dominic Thiem made the preliminary decision in the first set.
Until when the score was 4: 4, those of Lower Austria knew how to take advantage of Cilic’s mistakes to break the 5: 4 through a good defensive game. Rather than freely serve the set, Thiem fell behind with 0:40, but struggled to come back, waited for the opponent to make a mistake and took the first set after 45 minutes.
Second sovereign move
The second half also started with a loss of service from Cilic, who made more and more unforced errors. With a little effort, the Austrian world number three confirmed the break and started 2-0.
Second prayer to Thiem
With a confident performance, Thiem secured the second set
After that, Thiem focused primarily on his service games. Cilic was in no way defeated and continued to fight in every game. But after 1:27 a.m. the time had come. Thiem put the Croatian on the defensive, who struck, and the Austrian took the second set 6: 3 with the second break.
Thiem turns the third movement
The third set, however, began with a break for Cilic, 40th in the ATP rankings, who was obviously not willing to cancel the match. The Croatian played his best tennis, but Thiem managed the break to equalize 2-2.
Thiem uses the first match ball
After initially falling behind, Thiem converted the third set
With some notable backhand shots along the line, the Austrian resolved the following break opportunities, and a volley error from Cilic resulted in the 4: 2 for Thiem, who acted with increasing confidence as the game progressed. game. At 2:05 am, the Austrian took advantage of the first match point and made it 4-0 in a direct duel with Cilic. “This is how the really great start out at Grand Slam tournaments,” ORF expert Alexander Peya said in the studio in appreciation for Thiem’s appearance.
