ATP: Thiem wobbles at the beginning – but does not fall

Dominic Thiem is in the second round of Acapulco: The Lichtenwörther defeated Cameron Norrie from Great Britain in three sets and now meets Denis Shapovalov.

This could have been easier for Dominic Thiem: After a sovereign performance, the Austrian number one in the first round of the ATP World Tour 500 Tournament in Acapulco played 5:4 in the second set to win the match against the British qualifier Cameron Norrie – only to give up his serve twice in a row and thus pass two. In the deciding match Thiem won the decisive break to 6:5, after 2:22 hours the number three of the tournament finished the match with a forehand passerball to 6:3,5:7 and 7:5.

In round two, Thiem will face Canadian Denis Shapovalov. The left-hander, Wimbledon Junior Champion of 2017, defeated Kei Nishikori in three sets at the start. Thiem knows Shapovalov from joint training sessions at Günter Bresnik’s academy, and the two opponents also spent the days at the Laver Cup in Prague more or less together – but in different teams.

Also in round two is Alexander Zverev, a possible semi-final opponent of Dominic Thiem. The German defeated Mackenzie McDonald in two sets. Should Austria’s number one win against Shapovalov, David Ferrer and Juan Martin del Potro will be the winners of the quarter-finals.