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Dominic Thiem has gone one step further to defend his title at the Wiener Stadthalle. The last quarter-final ticket went to Grigor Dimitrov. Well, Jurij Rodionov entered the round of 16.
With a clear performance increase compared to the start, Dominic Thiem has come close to successfully defending his title in Vienna. The second-seeded US Open clearly defeated Chilean Cristian Garin 6: 3.6: 2 after just 65 minutes. He is now in the Erste Bank Open quarter-finals and will now face Russia’s Andrej Rublew, No. 5, seeded on Friday (second match after 2pm / ServusTV live). The last ticket to the quarterfinals was secured by the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who defeated the Greek number three Stefanos Tsitsipas by 6: 7 (5), 6: 4, 6: 3.
“It was a really good game, very solid from start to finish. The first game was anything but bad, but against an opponent who qualified much worse than him,” Thiem said on the field. to the nearly 1,000 spectators who created the atmosphere of the town hall.
“He did a little stupid”
Basically he felt much more comfortable than in the first match, which was also the first since the quarter-finals in Paris. “Actually, I did very few stupid things today, many first serves, I returned well,” Thiem said. In his second game in Austria as US Open Champion, he felt the game and the fans again. “It’s so nice to play in front of the fans, it gives you a little extra percentage of energy,” the 17-time tournament winner said on ServusTV.
Facing Rublew, whom he described as one of his “favorite people and favorite sparring partner on the tour” on the court, Thiem expected an “incredibly difficult” game. “He was in the top ten last week and I would say from the way he is currently playing, he is one of the top five players in the world. He plays every ball at top speed,” Thiem explained. “Tomorrow will be an incredibly difficult task.”
Quarter-finals in Vienna
Against the 23-year-old Rublew, who is currently eighth in the ATP rankings, Thiem has played three times and has 2-1 wins. The Russian had won the last match so far in the Hamburg 2019 quarterfinals twice 7: 6. For Thiem it is his quarterfinal at the town hall.
In any case, against Garin he showed a much better performance than the opening match against Vitaly Satschko (UKR), not least thanks to a strong service game. The world number three took his first break opportunity to make it 2-0. Thiem gave up only four points from his five service games in the first set. Lichtenwörther used their third set ball after 32 minutes at 6: 3.
In the second set Garin, who surprisingly knocked out three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka at first, increased a bit early, but it was Thiem again who managed the break to 3-2. The 22nd of the world ranking, compatriot of Thiem’s coach, Nicolas Massu, made a double mistake in breakball and the South American had fired his gunpowder. Thiem managed another break to 5-2 and used the second match point to win.
With Jurij Rodionov, the second Austrian had already been eliminated in the round of 16. The 21-year-old Viennese by choice had to bow to Britain’s Daniel Evans with 5: 7.3: 6. Thiem Rublew’s opponent only played three matches on the court because Italian Jannik Sinner had to give up due to a foot injury.
Co-favorite Daniil Medvedev, number four in the tournament, has finished, but had to give up a set against Vasek Pospisil of Canada. The Russian won with 4: 6.6: 3.6: 2.
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