Thiem saves match point and defeats Wawrinka

Dominic Thiem makes his way into the second round of the ATP 1000 tournament in Paris-Bercy.

After successfully qualifying for the main draw, the 30-year-old from Lower Austria defeated Swiss veteran Stan Wawrinka (ranked 51st on the ATP Tour) in the first round of the Masters after more than two and a half hours of action in three sets with 3: 6, 6:3, 7:5.

The game doesn’t end until just before 2:30 a.m. In the live rankings, the Lichtenwörther native jumps back into the top 100 and is currently ranked 92nd.

In the fight for a ticket to the Round of 16, Holger Röhn (7th place in the ATP) awaits a tough challenge. The 20-year-old Dane won his only match of the year at the ATP Masters in Monte Carlo in two sets.

Thiem shows morale and saves match point

The start of the match was a bit bumpy for Thiem, and Wawrinka quickly tackled him, acting confidently on his team’s serve, and had two break chances at 2-1, but Thiem blocked them both. At 3:4 from the ÖTV star’s point of view, the Swiss has three break points, the last of which he uses and then saves to take the lead in the set.

In the second set, the Austrian found the antidote to the 38-year-old’s powerful serve, breaking Wawrinka’s serve to zero once. Thiem then fended off two break points from the Swiss team, but dropped his next service game. This time Thiem was able to break to make it 5:3 and win the set.

In the deciding set, Thiem looked confident with his serve and did not allow a break until deep into the set – there were twelve in just the first two sets. But Wawrinka takes advantage of the only chance he has when the score is 4:3 and then he has the opportunity to serve for the match. Thiem frustrates match point and runs the break.

He confirms his next serve without any problems and gets two break points again with Wawrinka serving. Thiem carelessly leaves the first ball, but the second works after Wawrinka sends a backhand out of bounds. Then the resistance of the Swiss was broken and Thiem won with a clean sheet.

In a head-to-head matchup with the 38-year-old US Open winner since 2016, the 2020 winner is 2:3. The Lichtenwörthers’ only win to date came nearly ten years ago at the 2014 Masters in Madrid.