US Open: Dominic Thiem wins five-set heat battle against Steve Johnson

Dominic Thiem is in the third round of the 2018 US Open, the ninth seeded Austrian beat Steve Johnson from the USA in five sets after falling behind.

By Jens Huiber from New York City

Dominic Thiem had already completed the rally and moved into his forehand corner. Steve Johnson had also finished the rally. Unfortunately, however, the American had to deal another blow. And Johnson put it in the orphaned corner, but out.

It would have been the 4-0 in the tiebreak of the first set, Thiem came back again. And made the almost identical mistake at 5:5. Johnson wouldn’t miss a beat, serving up to lead the sentence.

In the end, after 3:34 hours of play, the Lichtenwörther won 6:7 (5), 6:3, 5:7, 6:4 and 6:1.

The fact that Dominic Thiem took his opponent’s serve for the first time right at the beginning of the second round speaks for the Lower Austrian’s morale and experience. Until 4:2 the match ran according to schedule, so service, then Johnson crashed, had to be treated at the ankle.

No break, which the number 31 of the world wished itself “which with wallpapered ankle carefully resumed the play enterprise. Nevertheless, Thiem managed to equalize the sets after 91 minutes without any problems.

In the third act, Johnson focused even more on attacking, the 28-year-old ex-college player wanted to avoid longer rallies. However, the strongest weapon, the serve, still worked quite well, even though Thiem sniffed a break in the ninth game.

Johnson, in turn, organized four set points at 5-4, Thiem kept his nerve. Not a few moments later: Two simple mistakes by the Lower Austrian, two decent points by the American – and Johnson went into the ten-minute heat break with a 2:1 set lead.

Court 17 is unsuitable because it is too far away from the changing rooms at Arthur Ashe Stadium. A 45-second ice bath, as Novak Djokovic and Marton Fucsovics had indulged in on Tuesday, was out of the question.

Set four started like the second, Thiem took the first service game Johnsons. Thiem did not shake this time, served after 3:07 hours to equalize. And started the decision with a break. Johnson’s resistance was broken, the late change to the white T-shirt in the blazing heat of New York no longer brought a turnaround.

In round three, Taylor Fritz is waiting. Thiem has already played against the American in New York in 2017. And you won.

Here is the men’s single tableau at the US Open 2018