Dampener for Thiem: no set win in the semifinals

2023-05-13 16:19:00

The 2nd SKE Danube Upper Austria Open has lost its top attraction, Dominic Thiem’s triumph has stopped. Austria’s tennis star, who won his first three matches in this Category 100 Challenger tournament, surprisingly lost in the semifinals today to the only 19-year-old Serb Hamad Medjedovic, who only appears in 214th place in the world rankings.

After 1:49 hours the outsider sank to his knees and could hardly believe his luck. “It’s a huge success for me, Thiem is one of the greats,” said Medjedovic about his 7: 6 (3), 6: 2 victory.

In the final on Sunday, which was brought forward from 2 p.m. to 12.30 p.m. (live stream on nachrichten.at) in consultation with ORF Sport+ due to the poor weather forecast, the next red-white-red player is waiting. Namely Filip Misolic, who won the duel between two Styrians with Sebastian Ofner 7: 6 (1), 6: 4. The second title for Austria after that of Jurij Rodionov last year is not unrealistic.

The guest appearance in the Mühlviertel is over for Thiem, he is traveling on to France, where the next challenger tournament is on the program next week.

“It was a bad performance. I didn’t get into the game. The result is also surprising for me, I didn’t manage to fight my way back. My opponent gave me little rhythm, that was different in the days before,” explained Thiem: “I have to make sure that games like this become less common,” explained the 29-year-old Lichtenwörther, who still takes positive thoughts with him: “I have for the first time Reached a semi-final this season. There were good things too.”

There was no emphasis today, although Thiem turned an early 0-2 deficit into a 3-2 lead with a break in the first set. But Medjedovic didn’t give up and got the tie break with 7/3. The second round was then a clear thing. While Medjedovic never gave up his (strong) serve, Thiem had to accept breaks to 1: 2 and 2: 5.