2023-04-29 20:43:06
Dominic Thiem was eliminated in the second round of the ATP Masters 1000 tennis tournament in Madrid. The Lower Austrian lost a thrilling match once morest Stefanos Tsitsipas on clay on Saturday following a strong performance and set lead with 6:3,1:6,6:7(5). Thiem showed once morest the powerful Greek that he is on his way back to the world class, but will have to wait for his first win once morest a top ten player since November 2020.
Since the separation from coach Nicolas Massu, Thiem has gained self-confidence with steadily increasing performance, which he also showed at the beginning once morest fifth in the world rankings. The 29-year-old, only in the main draw thanks to a wildcard, gave up just one point in his first two service games and broke the Greek to a 3-1 lead. Tsitsipas immediately had the re-break on the racket, but was unable to take three chances. The Greek then got stronger, but Thiem stayed on the trigger and won the first set with an ace following 40 minutes.
In the second set, Tsitsipas continued to improve while Thiem was unable to maintain his level. The Greek took the first service game from the Madrid finalists from 2017 and 2018, took a 3-0 lead and clearly dominated. After the second break to make it 5-1, the 24-year-old served to equal the set.
Tsitsipas didn’t need a single second service in the entire second set and fielded a total of 39 first serves in a row. “It’s fantastic, 39 is a lot. It shows that I improved my service today,” explained the Greek.
In the third set, Thiem caught himself once more and delivered an exciting duel to Tsitsipas. In contrast to Tsitsipas, Thiem struggled to get through his service games, but the former third in the world rankings fought. Significantly the eleventh game that brought pure drama. With some great shots and a lot of mental strength, Thiem fended off five breakballs and took the lead 6: 5. In the tie-break, the Lower Austrian was 3-1 in the lead, but Tsitsipas finally scored his second match point following 2:19 hours.
Four weeks before the start of the French Open in Paris, Thiem, who has now dropped to 93rd place in the world rankings, continued to show an upward trend and in many phases recalled his most successful times.
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