2023-09-30 15:17:58
In the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 tournament in Astana there is an Austrian duel: After Dominic Thiem, who won with a hard-fought 6:3.4:6.7:6(2) victory following 2:19 hours over the US -American Marcos Giron made it to his fourth quarter-final of the season, Sebastian Ofner is also through. Austria’s number one gave number 3 seeded Kazakh Alexander Bublik no chance despite his home advantage at 6:4,6:2. Now Thiem and Ofner will play once morest each other on Sunday.
With Jurij Rodionov, who had already moved into the round of the last eight the day before, you can see an extremely rare ÖTV appearance in Astana in this phase of an ATP tournament.
Ofner managed once morest the world number 35. A break in the opening game and then fended off two break points at 2-1. That was enough for him to securely win the first set. When Bublik’s serve was regarding to be over in the second round at 5:1, 0:30, he suddenly started serving from below in his usual way. The local hero did this five times in a row to the cheers of the audience and with his own laughter he still won the service game. Ofner seemed out of character for a moment, but he still served safely following just 70 minutes.
“The fans were for my opponent, but it was a great match and I played two really great sets,” said Ofner in the court interview. He doesn’t let distractions get him out of it. “I focus on myself.” Regarding the upcoming duel with Thiem, the Styrian remembered the first round duel this year in Estoril. “It was a close match. I’m looking forward to it, he’s playing better now and I’m in good shape too.” Thiem won 3:6.6:3.6:4 in Estoril and also won all three previous encounters with his compatriot. It’s a “stable duel” because both train in Thiem’s father Wolfgang’s academy.
The 30-year-old Thiem had previously had much more trouble. In the end he had his third win in his third duel with Giron. For Thiem, it is the fourth quarter-final in 2023 following Estoril, Munich and Kitzbühel. His summary while still on the court: “It was a very close match. I have the feeling that there are very close matches here in these conditions, a lot of tiebreaks. ” He started the match very well. “In the second set he played much better, in the third it was a very close battle. I played a very good tiebreak, that was the best part of the game.”
Giron had defeated three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka in three tiebreaks in round one, but he was unable to achieve a second win once morest a former Grand Slam winner.
Thiem had to fend off two break points in the first game, but it took until the eighth game before a player actually had to give up the serve. And it was Thiem who made it 5:3 with the first break ball. He then served out the first set 6-3 following 31 minutes. In the second round, Thiem missed a total of four break chances in the third and fifth games and then had to give up the service to make it 2:4, not quite as the game went. Giron confirmed the break to zero. Although Thiem managed the rebreak to make it 4:5 at the last possible moment, he then had to give up his serve to make it 4:6 following a double fault at 0:40.
In the third set, Thiem was unable to take advantage of a chance to break at 3:3 and had to fend off two of his own at 3:4. In the partly high-class fight in the Astana hall, the two ranking neighbors (Thiem immediately ahead of Giron 81st) were heading for a decisive tiebreak. And in this Thiem was the better man. Thiem improves in the live ranking to number 72, and if he overcomes the next hurdle he will return to the top 70.
However, Thiem, who was recently thrown back due to gastritis C, has a new, at least small, source of concern on his body: he played once morest Giron with tape around his right knee. When asked by the APA, his manager Moritz Thiem explained: “He took a bad step in the first match once morest Varillas and then felt a small sting in his knee. The tape stabilized the whole thing a bit and took the pressure off.”
Now we have to make sure that Thiem remains fit. His brother wasn’t able to play for two weeks following the second round of the US Open. “We’ll see how he looks physically in the next match.”
Since all three Austrians are playing in the lower half of the table, there might also be a red-white-red clash in the semi-finals. The winner from Thiem-Ofner will face Rodionov or Adrian Mannarino (FRA-6).
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