ATP: Dominic Thiem fights Stefanos Tsitsipas down in Indian Wells

Dominic Thiem has managed with some difficulty to make it into the third round of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells. The Austrian number one defeated the young Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas after 111 minutes with 6:2,3:6 and 6:3.

Thiem started mercilessly in his first match in Indian Wells 2018: The first six points all went to the Austrian – even though Tsitsipas had started with the serve. The next break for Thiem followed to 3-0, but the favourite left his opponent no room to breathe. After 18 minutes Tsitsipas wrote for the first time, 1:4. Despite the initial superiority of Thiem, a quite attractive exchange of blows developed, both players prefer the one-handed variant on the backhand. After 29 minutes the Lichtenwörther, who won all points on his first serve, secured the first round with 6:2.

Old master Marcos Baghdatis had taken a seat in the Greek box, Thiem will be cared for by Galo Blanco at this tournament, Günter Bresnik will join him in Miami. Physiotherapist Alex Stober is of course also on Thiem’s side, mother Karin has already followed the tournament in Buenos Aires from the best place, and this week the performance diagnostician Michael Reinprecht from Graz has been added.

As in the doubles match that Dominic Thiem had lost at Philipp Petzschner’s side on Friday against Bruno Soares and Philipp Petzschner, there were rather atypical conditions for Indian Wells: cloudy skies, the sun did not find access to the Center Court, where Thiem had joined a hitting partner in the early morning.

Tsitsipas started the second set more offensively, searched as often as possible for the way to the net and took the lead in the match for the first time. And after three unforced mistakes Thiems won the break to 2:0. Tsitsipas increased every aspect of his game in this phase, especially the serve. In the seventh game, Thiem missed the great opportunity to rebreak when he failed to consistently pursue an attack ball and put the volley into the net. After 67 minutes Tsitsipas finished the second round with an ace to 6:3.

In the final set Thiem was allowed to start for the first time. After winning his first game, the fifth seeded favourite took a break, but placed a forehand longline next to the line. In the fourth game this scenario was repeated, only more dramatically: Thiem took several break points, but missed out on these chances in a curious way: once the Austrian missed out, he missed a ball on the line. After more than eleven minutes Thiem finally got the break for the 3:1. But Tsitsipas made the comeback to 3:4 with the friendly support of his opponent. Thiem immediately fought back, and after 1:51 hours he celebrated the victory with a 6:2,3:6 and 6:3 victory.

In the third round, Denis Shapovalov and Pablo Cuevas will be the winners of the game.

Here is the men’s single panel in Indian Wells