The Austrian Dominic Thiem has caught up to a two-set gap and is in the third round of the Australian Open after an energy performance. Last year’s last year’s eighth-finalist defeated qualifier Denis Kudla 6:7 (6:8), 3:6,6:3,6:3,6:2,6:3 in just under four hours.
From Ulrike Weinrich from Melbourne
The preliminary decision in the fifth set was made when Thiem took the first service game from the brave Kudla and gave the American another moral low blow. It was Thiem’s first ever five-set game at Happy Slam. In 2017, the 24-year-old had lost his two major games over the full distance in Wimbledon and at the US Open (each round of the last sixteen).
“I’m more than happy, now I’m taking a warm shower – I hate ice baths,” said Thiem, who has 21 aces:”Today’s conditions were already very tough. Two days after his sensational “Tweener” in the opening match against Guido Pella (Argentina) it soon became clear that “Magic” Thiem would be much more challenged in the duel with Kudla than at the start of the tournament. The Florida right-hander is only 190th in the ATP ranking, but Kudla was fearless from the outset of the Margaret Court Arena.
Thiem did manage to break early in the heat, but even a 4-1 lead was not enough to win the set. The fifth in the world ranking list made an unusually large number of unforced mistakes on the forehand and could not be satisfied with his quota of first serves (49 percent) in the first round. After he had given up his service three times in a row, the tiebreak had to make the decision. Thiem missed two set points in a row at a score of 6:4 due to deficiencies before Kudla and his fifth ace took the lead after 66 minutes.
Thiem looked at his box a little perplexed, in which coach Günter Bresnik, despite the 21 Unforced Errors of his protégé, didn’t give a damn. As a result, qualifier Kudla continued to play his part in the high-speed spectacle on Melbourne Park’s third largest court.
The favourite, who had never been as high as this time at a Grand Slam event (No. 5), now tried to play Kudla on his backhand side. First night without the resounding success. Meanwhile, temperatures rose more and more – and the rallies became visibly shorter at 37 degrees Celsius.
Thiem was also unable to make use of his chances in the second set and did not seem to be as constant in the decisive situations as usual. This only got better after that. In the third round the Lichtenwörther did not let himself be discouraged by many missed chances and a lost game for almost 15 minutes and showed as proof after the successful break to the 5:3 the fist. Again and again the “Dominator” cheered for itself.
And the race to catch up went on. While Kudla physically and psychologically disintegrated, Thiem seized his opportunities in the style of a world-class player. The emotional roller coaster with Thiem in the cockpit came to a happy end after 3:48 hours, and he was overjoyed to be celebrated by the fans after the match. The next opponent on Saturday is either Adrian Mannarino from France (No. 26) or the Czech Jiri Vesely.
In the summer of 2016, Austria’s number one had failed in the second round of a Grand Slam tournament. Since then, he had been in the quarter-finals and semi-finals four times at major level. The only match against Kudla, who had reached the round of the last 16 in Wimbledon as the Wildcard owner in 2015, was the only game against Kudla to date, and Thiem had clearly won two sets last year in Brisbane.