US Open: Dominic Thiem storms in round two

Dominic Thiem has entered the second round of the US open 2018 with confidence: The 24-year-old from Lower Austria won in three sets against Mirza Basic from Bosnia.

By Jens Huiber from New York City

Grandstand it is. Dominic Thiem and Mirza Basic had to wait a long time for their bets in the first round of the US Open, the court number 10 had actually been intended for this. Elise Mertens, Taylor Fritz and Julia Görges needed so long for their opening victories that Thiem and Basic were placed on the court where the Austrian was defeated last year by Juan Martin del Potro.

The unpleasant memory did not challenge Thiem. The ninth-placed Lichtenwörther defeated Basic 6:3, 6:1 and 6:4 in round two against Steve Johnson from the USA, who defeated Denis Istomin in three sets.

Thiem started with a break shortly after 8pm local time. Still very summerly temperatures, but still without sunlight, which had induced Florian Mayer to talk about criminal conditions for the players. The first act lasted only 30 minutes, Thiem was never in danger.

In the second round, the 24-year-old’s dominance was even greater: Thiem took his opponent’s serve twice and won the set 6-1.

Basic kept up better in the third set and kept the game open until 2-2. Then Thiem took advantage of his second breakchance, served out confidently – even though Mirza still had his only breakchance in the last game. The quality of the service was impressive: Of the first 36 points that Thiem opened with the first serve, he won all 36.

He was 100 percent restored, Thiem said after the match. He was very happy about the upgrade from Court 10 to the Grandstand.

Against his second-round opponent Steve Johnson, Thiem has a record of two victories to one defeat. The last encounter, the only one that took place on Hartplatz, was won by the American last autumn. It can’t be ruled out that the revenge will take place at the Grandstand again. With the Dominic Thiem now again good memories connects.

Here is the men’s single tableau at the US Open