Dominic Thiem has passed the endurance test before the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in Hamburg: The Austrian defeated Australian John Millman in the match tiebreak in the first German Bundesliga in the service of TK Grün-Weiß Mannheim.
On Monday Thiem had held back in the final of the Adidas Club Challenge in the show fight against Stefanos Tsitsipas, but John Millman demanded everything from the Austrian number one.
Millman had already tormented Thiem over five sets at the US Open almost two years ago, this time the Australian, who competed for the TC Weinheim 1902, won the first round 7:5, Thiem defeated 6:4 in the second set, the decision in the match tiebreak was extremely close for the favourite with 10:8. In front of about 3,500 spectators. A backdrop that would suit many tournaments in the professional circus well.
“A great story for Dominic that he got back into the match business so well,” Mats Merkel, who supervised Thiem in Mannheim, told tennisnet.com. “Millman played very well the last few weeks, and Dominic needed the first set to get back in. After all, he hasn’t played a match for three or four weeks. But in the decisive moments Dominic was there.”
Much to the delight of Gerald Marzenell, the team captain of TK Grün-Weiß Mannheim.
“Dominic is an absolute team player, so he hung himself all the more,” explained Merkel, who coached and scouted players for Adidas on the ATP and WTA Tour.
Incidentally, there could be a reunion in just a few days at the ATP World Tour 500 in Hamburg – if both players win their respective first-round matches.
Also successful was Gerald Melzer, who had already played Richard Gasquet in Bastad for more than one and a half sets. Melzer defeated Luca Vanni 6:3 and 7:6 (4). Peter Gojowczyk showed one in Mannheim’s service a sovereign performance: The German Davis Cup player defeated Thomas Fabbiano with 6:3 and 6:3