Tennis: Dominic Thiem and Yurij Rodionov in the round of 16 in Estoril

The Austrian tennis fencer at the ATP Championships in Estoril went to Dominic Thiem on Tuesday. He defeated Austrian lower Styrian Sebastian Offner in the first round 3:6, 6:3, 6:4, thus celebrating his second success in the match this year. Going head-to-head in the round, Thiem increased it to 3-0. About two and a half hours later, another Austrian, Jurij Rodionov, reached the round of 16. The 23-year-old beat Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas 3:6, 6:1, 6:4.

With the victory, Thiem repulsed Offner’s attack on the first place in Austrian tennis, although Rodionov is still in the running in this regard. Rodionov is currently ranked 120, and is ninth behind the 2020 US Open winner. The two could only meet in the final in Estoril, but for now, it’s about reaching the quarter-finals on Thursday. Thiem meets American Ben Shelton for the first time, and Rodionov meets Miomir Kekmanovic – the Serbian leads 1-0 in direct confrontations.

“It wasn’t easy because I know Ovi and I inside. We’ve become friends over the past few years, and it’s not easy,” Thiem said after the 2:05 game. He had a good feeling from the start. “Above all, how fast my shots were and what they did. But in the first set I made a lot of mistakes. Then in the second and third they got less. For me it’s an important and wonderful win.”

Offner had a better start

Offner had a better start. In front of jubilant stands, the 26-year-old broke away to lead 2-0 and 5-1. For his part, Thiem missed three break points at 0:2. He committed four double faults in this first round. The 29-year-old reared again, made a break, but missed chances for 4: 5. So 0: 1 was fixed in sentences.

In the second set, Ofner made it 1-0 with the break, but from then on he faced a much more consistent opponent. Thiem responded 4-1 and then worked to level the set. The game had leveled up by this point. Two breaks for a 3-0 lead paved the way for Thiem to claim their first win since mid-February. Ofner, who was trained by Tim’s father Wolfgang Thiem, could not break out of this deficit despite an immediate crash.

Rodionov found himself 3-0 down against 35-year-old Ramos Vinolas, missing out on all five of his break chances in the first set, and therefore a chance to win the set. Lower Austrian won in the second round, writing winner Estoril 2021 only at 0:5. Rodionov showed improvement in some areas such as service. In the decision, second-ranked Austria took the serve from the Iberian veteran to take a 2-1 lead, after 2:21 hours.

There was also the first success of Alexander Erler / Lukas Midler in Marrakech. The two-time winners from Vienna and Acapulco took third place over Chilean Nicolas Jarry and Venezuelan Luis David Martinez 7:5, 6:3.