ATP: Thiem fights Delbonis down

Dominic Thiem won his opening match at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid after a hard fight. The number five on the seed list needed three sets to clinch the second win in a second comparison on Pista Arantxa Sanchez against Federico Delbonis.

Illustre names such as Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray have already put Federico Delbonis in his place in his career. The Argentinean would have loved to have added Dominic Thiem to this list, but he had other plans:

With 4:6, 6:3 and 7:5 Austria’s number one jumped over its opening hurdle. However, Thiem has yet to reach the high hanging grapes of the previous year. 600 world ranking points are available in the Spanish capital – not a figurehead for the finalist of 2017.

Why this is so became particularly clear in the first sentence: Security was a foreign word for Thiem. The angle play didn’t work, Delbonis could create pressure too often with his large forehand loop. 17 mistakes by Thiem were ultimately too many. Moreover, he only made two points over the second serve – out of the question!

With the break to 5:4 Delbonis set the course for a set win, while Thiem missed two opportunities as a setback.

But it got better: After Thiem broke 3-1 in the second set, the faces of tour coach Galo Blanco and Physio Alex Stober brightened up. The seventh in the world rankings now let Forehand and Delbonis run, which resulted in set equalisation after about 90 minutes.

Thiem had to accept a surprising defeat against the Greek rookie Stefanos Tsitsipas in Barcelona. In Monte Carlo Rafael Nadal had taught him a bitter lesson. Another blow of the neck could only be prevented in Madrid with great difficulty.

After a balanced course Thiem set the first pinprick in the final round with the break to 4:3. However, he showed serious weaknesses during the elimination, Delbonis was back in the match due to a double mistake. But Thiem took the serve off the South American again – and then turned his second match point into the next round.

Borna Coric is waiting in the round of 16. The up-and-coming Croatian only allowed Jan-Lennard Struff two games in the round of the last 32. Coric versus Thiem? There was something, wasn’t there? Last year, the 24-year-old from Lichtenwörth prevailed in the quarter-finals in two sets. A few weeks earlier, Coric had made an internal comparison on the hard court in Miami.