ATP: Dominic Thiem

Dominic Thiem lost his second game at the ATP grass court tournament in Halle/Westphalia. Against Yuichi Sugita from Japan, Thiem had a black day and lost 2:6, 5:7.

Compared to his opening game against Mikhail Youzhny, Thiem could not convince with his service on Wednesday. A rate of only 53 percent of the first mark-ups was not enough against the world’s number 52. The French Open finalist won 38 percent of the points in the second serve.

Sugita, on the other hand, convinced again and again with flat, well-placed strokes. The Japanese player beat 31 winners, 17 of them over his serve, and made only 22 unforced mistakes. Thiem’s balance sheet was almost mirror-inverted: 22 winners, 33 mistakes without necessity.

With two breaks at the beginning of the game, Sugita quickly took the lead 4-0. It took 26 minutes for Thiem to write for the first time, but nine minutes later passage one was lost.

In the second movement Thiems game stabilized a little, and Sugita approached his normal form a little. But an unconcentrated game at 5-5 provided the match-deciding break, Sugita turned his fourth match point after an hour and 29 minutes.

Sugita will now face Denis Kudla in the quarter-finals, who surprisingly eliminated Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4. For Thiem, no points drop out of the standings next Monday, last year he also failed in the second round – at that time against Robin Haase from the Netherlands.