Thiem will end his career in about two months at the Vienna Erste Bank Open. As will be required at the home tournament, he has also received a wildcard for the last Grand Slam event of the year – and has been assigned to face Arthur Ashe.
The world’s largest tennis stadium was not yet completely full when the match began at 12:15 p.m. local time, but as the match went on, more and more people wanted to see the tournament winner from the Corona year 2020 and the local hero. Like 16 of his compatriots, he is striving for the first US Open title by an American since Andy Roddick in 2003. Last year, Shelton reached the semifinals and thus landed his greatest success to date. On the way there, the youngster had won in round two against Thiem, who had to give up at 6:7,0:1 due to gastritis.
Duel under different circumstances
The draw meant that the third duel between the two – Thiem won on clay last year in Estoril – also took place on the US Open stage. The omens were very different this time, however. Shelton is now 13th in the world rankings and is well on his way to breaking into the top ten, while Thiem entered the match with little tournament experience and only ATP-210th. In the first set, however, the difference in ranking between the two was not particularly noticeable. Thiem held his serve well until 4:4 and had three match points to equalize again at 4:5. But the game and set went to Shelton.
And he deserved it, because the 21-year-old, coached by his father Bryan Shelton (former world number 55), was more dominant and successful with his serve, having hit 14 winners up to that point. Despite this, Thiem found a break point in the first game of the second set, but he failed to capitalize on it. His opponent did better immediately afterwards and pulled away. The set was practically over for Thiem against the strong server. It was similar in the third set, where the local favorite’s 3:1 was decisive.
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For Thiem, his 111th Grand Slam match with 75 victories ended after 1:50 hours. On Tuesday next week, the four-time major finalist (including a US Open victory), who was ultimately set back by a wrist injury suffered in 2021, will celebrate his 31st birthday. Incidentally, his ex-coach Nicolas Massu was among those sitting in the box of the former world number three. After Thiem’s appearance, Sebastian Ofner and Julia Grabher were still in first-round action at the US Open on Monday.
