Tennis in Gstaad: Dominic Thiem in the second round after beating Hugo Gaston

Dominc Thiem has added the next sense of accomplishment to his return run and can continue to hope for a successful rehearsal of the tournament at home in Kitzbühel next week. On Tuesday, the lower Austrian won the first round of the ATP dirt-court tournament in Gstaad against Frenchman Hugo Gaston after a poor start of 1:6, 6:1, 7:6 (7) and took it to the round of 16 with Federico. Delbonis from Argentina to do.

A few days after his performance in Stadion, where the 28-year-old US Open winner since 2020 celebrated his first two ATP Tour victories after returning after a 10-month hiatus with injury, he had to work hard against the 59th-placed. in. the scientist. “I had problems getting used to the conditions at first,” explained Thiem regarding the challenges at Gstaad, which, thanks to its position at around 1,000 meters above sea level, lead to a different ball behaviour. “I got better in the second set, it was really tough at the time. That’s why I’m really happy with the win.”

Tuesday’s match had nothing to do with the only duel between the two teams so far, a five-set match in 2020 at Roland Garros, which Tim won. The start in the Central Court was very poor for Lichtenwörther, or rather, it did not start at all. Less than half an hour into the start, shot-dropping champion Gaston sat as the 6-1 winner of the set and looked like he didn’t make it.

But the picture changed in the second group in a mirror image. Tim’s shots, especially the forehand, became more accurate, his serve was dangerous, he did not allow a single ball to be broken, and he also won the second round 6: 1. Now a close fight ensued for the first time, which logically led the opponents to the tiebreak. There, too, was back and forth. Tim missed his first match point at 6:5, and made one at 6:7, but finally closed the sack exactly two hours later.