For the second time after 2013 Dominic Thiem finds himself in the quarterfinals of the Erste Bank Open 500. The no. 1 seed from Lower Austria beat American Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-4.
In front of a capacity crowd cheering frantically for the local hero, Thiem started the match on fire, getting an early break and never wavering when on serve. That was until it was time to serve out the set and Thiem suddenly found himself confronted with a 0-30. But the Austrian didn’t concede a break-point and closed the set 6-4.
Second set like the first
In the second set, Thiem broke his opponent’s service again for a 2-1 lead, converting his third break-point. At 3-1 Thiem had another break-point but that was saved by Querrey. In the next game, Thiem gave Querrey a break-point with a double fault but was able to save that one, just like the next two before converting his first game point with an ace to make it 4-2. After that, Thiem never looked back, serving out the set and the match after only 78 minutes.
Thiem will face Japanese Kei Nishikori in the quarterfinals on Friday. The match is scheduled as the second on the centercourt.
“Tough match”
“The match was very tough”, analyzed Thiem afterwards. The reason: “I had three good return games and broke him twice. But I had to be very concentrated when serving because I just couldn’t let him back into the match. Who knows if I would get another chance for a break again?”
Looking forward to the quarterfinal against Kei Nishikori: “That will be a completely different match, with more and longer rallies. He is back in top form, just when he was no. 4 in the world and played a Grand Slam final.”