Dominic Thiem continues today (not before 5:30 pm, in our LIVE-TICKER) his kick-off tournament into the grass court season. Opponent with the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in resound/Westphalia is the Japanese Yuichi Sugita.
Dominic Thiem was happy to take home the double on Tuesday in Halle/Westphalia – even if it wasn’t enough against Dominic Inglot and Franko Skugor with partner Steve Johnson. Thiem’s goal is to gather as much playing experience as possible on grass before the third Grand Slam tournament of the year. And to work on the two most important shots: Surcharge and return.
The former has already worked quite well against Mikhail Youzhny on Monday evening under closed roof, altogether 19 times the Russian had to walk from left to right at the baseline as a recoil of things he had not achieved.
Thiem entered the tournament as number three at Germany’s biggest grass court event and was drawn into the upper half of the tableau. This could mean a semi-final against Roger Federer – provided Thiem overcomes the next two hurdles: Yuichi Sugita has already been confirmed (today, not before 5:30 pm, in our LIVE-TICKER), after that it could go against Stefanos Tsitsipas again.
The 19-year-old Greek defeated Thiem in Barcelona this year, but the Lichtenwörther won three times, most recently in the second round of the French Open. Tsitsipas has proven that he can also play tennis competently on grass with his first-round victory over Lucas Pouille.
Last year Thiem lost to Robin Haase in Halle, reached the semi-finals in 2016 – and lost to the later winner Florian Mayer. Against Sugita, currently number 52 in the ATP charts, the Austrian number one played in Barcelona just over a year ago. Sugita only won three games.
However, caution is advised. Finally, in round one, the Japanese player defeated Maximilian Marterer. And the German is one of the rising stars of the 2018 season.
Here the single tableau in Halle/Westphalia