Dominic Thiem will enter the ATP World Tour 250 tournament in St. Petersburg on Thursday. The first seeded Austrian will then face Jan-Lennard Struff.
Of course, the tournament in St. Petersburg is not the first one in which Dominic Thiem has to perform his duties as one of the top seeders. Even before the start of his sporting activities, mind you. With Alexander Zverev, for example, Thiem went on a plateau over the cliffs in Acapulco; with Karen Khachanov, a city tour with a boat trip was now on the agenda in Russia.
The Austrian number one has plenty of time for this, the second round match against Jan-Lennard Struff is scheduled for Thursday. Struff beat Andrey Rublev at the beginning, that should not be underestimated. But don’t overestimate Rublev, since his return after a back injury, has been struggling almost as stubbornly with himself as with his opponent,
Struff and Thiem have met three times so far, the Austrian leads in the balance with 2:1 victories. The last one was at the Australian Open 2017, when there was an affair over four sets. The two Davis Cup players know and appreciate each other and have already tried each other in doubles. While Dominic Thiem has dedicated himself to Chelsea FC, Jan-Lennard Struff is known to hold on with the BVB from Dortmund.
Thiem’s primary concern is to secure his place in the season finale in London. The 250 points available in St. Petersburg do not make the herb fat, a small cushion towards John Isner, Thiem’s first pursuer, cannot hurt.
Even though the Wimbledon semi-finalist and winner from Miami is currently busy with other things than planning a trip to the British capital.
The ATP final was also planned by Jan-Lennard Struff – but in pairs with Ben McLachlan. After the surprising entry into the semi-finals of the Australian Open, the German-Japanese double had raised hopes for a place in the field of eight in the O2 Arena, these hopes are long perdu.
In St. Petersburg Struff competes in doubles, he tries his hand with Andre Begemann. Thiem does without the fun, he concentrates on his solo performance. The 25-year-old Lichtenwörther has already won two tournaments in 2018, in Buenos Aires and Lyon. Thiem is still lacking success in the hall.