Dominic Thiem has reached the third round at the French Open 2018: Austria’s number one defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6:2, 2:6, 6:4 and 6:4 in the continuation of the match that ended on Wednesday after a total of 2:40 hours and now faces the Italian Matteo Berrettini.
By Jens Huiber from Paris
When Fabio Fognini is in a good mood, the Italian completes his tasks on the big tennis stage briefly, succinctly and successfully. It was good news for Dominic Thiem and Stefanos Tsitsipas, who entered at exactly 1:20 p.m. to continue their match, which was interrupted on Wednesday due to darkness.
The conditions could hardly have been more different: At the beginning of the second round game on Wednesday evening mildness prevailed with increasingly precarious lighting conditions. On resumption, early summer had taken over again, in the grey tennis theory this indicated faster conditions. Especially in Roland Garros, where the players are confronted with a hard court with a light sand layer anyway rather than a classic rake paradise.
Dominic Thiem has gained enough sympathy in Paris in the past years, the audience on the grandstands, which were already full on Wednesday, let the Lower Austrian feel this verbally. And Thiem was also the player who came out of the starting blocks better.
With the break to 3:2 the Lichtenwörther brought himself into that position, which he did not give away as on that day again sovereign serve. the Thiem set in position seven dominated from the baseline almost at will, Tsitsipas also gave his frustration verbally air. Chair referee Damien Dumusios issued a warning in the eighth game. Thiem missed his first match point with a double mistake, after 160 minutes the Austrian had made his entry into round three clear.
Thiem will meet Matteo Berrettini on Friday. The latter had prevented a duel between Thiem coach Günter Bresnik’s old stable mates with his second round victory against Ernests Gulbis.
An Italian who won round one against the German Lucky Loser Osar Otte. But not an Italian like Fabio Fognini, whose parts are short and sweet even if he’s not in a good mood.