VIENNA/WASHINGTON, October 24, 2023 (by Michael Dickens)
Favorite son Dominic Thiem always likes coming home to Austria this time of the tennis season to play in the ATP 500 Erste Bank Open in Vienna. The crowd that fills Wiener Stadthalle located not too far from where he grew up in Wiener Neustadt – always a raucous atmosphere when an Austrian plays on Center Court – gives Thiem an unbelievable energy to succeed. In Austria, Thiem is revered like a rock star.
“I always love it,” Thiem told ATPTour.com on Sunday in Vienna, in advance of his 12th tournament appearance. “There are some sports where you play home games every second week and everybody’s telling you about the advantages, about how much better you play at home.
“And it is like that, but as a tennis player, as an Austrian especially, you only have it two or three times a year.”
Such it is for Thiem, the 2019 champion, who stepped on court for Tuesday’s featured match billed as Thiemsday by tournament organizers. The home crowd that flocked to Wiener Stadthalle, filling nearly every seat, were treated to a highly-charged and entertaining first-round clash between the 99th-ranked Thiem, a 17-time ATP Tour singles champion who needed a wild card to enter the main draw, and current World No. 7 and fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.
Madrid ✅
Wimbledon ✅#erstebankopen ✅@steftsitsipas records a third victory in 2023 over close friend Thiem with a 7-6 6-4 win in Vienna! 🇦🇹 pic.twitter.com/KZPBykg1jj— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 24, 2023
In the 11th career head-to-head meeting between the two one-fisted backhanders, the two former World No. 3s went at it from first ball to last ball. When it ended after one hour and 58 minutes, it was Tsitsipas who prevailed over Thiem, winning 7-6 (5), 6-4. The Greek star came from 2-4 down in the first-set tie-break to pull it out. Then, he broke Thiem’s serve and spirit in the third game of the second set after saving three break points during an eight-minute, 22-point encounter a game earlier.
Although Thiem never wavered, he was unable to turn the tide. In defeat, he showed why he’s a hero in his home country. Soon, Tsitsipas ended the match with his 10th ace. He walked to the net and shared a warm hug with Thiem.
Not quite enought today, but still a great performance by 🇦🇹 @domithiem in front of a packed #ErsteBankOpen center court! 😍
Sent the crowd into a frenzy with those 💣 forehands and the tweener was 🤌🤤 pic.twitter.com/n92B4k0l86— Erste Bank Open (@ErsteBankOpen) October 24, 2023
Like their two earlier meetings this year, in which Tsitsipas won deciding tie-breaks to beat Thiem at Madrid and Wimbledon, it was another close and tight match between them and decided by the thinnest of margins. Tsitsipas hit 28 winners to go with his 10 aces, won 81 percent of his first-serve points and saved all three break points he faced from Thiem. The Austrian countered with 22 winners and made 21 unforced errors. Tsitsipas outpointed his opponent 77-71.
“[Dominic] made it difficult, as always,” Tsitsipas said in his post-match interview. “Every single match that we have played this year has been on the edge. It wouldn’t be any different this time. I really had to come up with some good shots toward the end. There were some extraordinary rallies we played during the course of the match. It was physical, always. I had to stay composed, especially the second set, because he picked up his game.”
A Thiem tweener in front of the home crowd 🌭@domithiem #erstebankopen pic.twitter.com/6AqkiZ1E0E
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 24, 2023
The loss dropped Thiem’s 2023 win-loss record to 17-22, which has included a run to the final at Kitzbühel and three quarterfinal appearances at ATP 250 level. It was also his 12th straight loss to a Top-10 opponent. He walked off the court to loud applause from the partisan fans and waved to them in appreciation. Before he left, he made time to sign autographs for plenty of young fans.
Meanwhile, Tsitsipas, who improved to 46-20, hasn’t lost in the opening round of an indoor event since 2021 at the Rolex Paris Masters, appearing in eight indoor tournaments since then.
Rublev knows what it takes to win in Vienna
World No. 5 and third seed Andrey Rublev knows what it takes to win in Vienna. After all, he is a former Erste Bank Open champion. The 2020 titlist defeated No. 39 Alexei Popyrin of Australia, 7-6 (5), 6-4, in one hour and 36 minutes for his 10th win in Austria in 14 career matches. Now, he needs just one more victory to clinch a fourth-consecutive berth in Turin for next month’s Nitto ATP Finals. He’s currently in fifth place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.
“Every match you feel you are one step closer,” Rublev told ATPTour.com of his Turin chances. “Every win, every day. The door is open and I see what is inside, but I am not inside the room yet.”
3rd seed @AndreyRublev97 is into the next round of #erstebankopen 2023 ,👏 He defeats A. Popyrin 7-6(5) 6-4 in a very close match on Center Court 🎾 pic.twitter.com/P1NIGBzKWo
— Erste Bank Open (@ErsteBankOpen) October 24, 2023
Against Popyrin, Rublev hit eight aces and 25 winners, and won four of seven break-point opportunities. He outpointed his opponent 74-68. Next, he will take on No. 46 Matteo Arnaldi of Italy in the second round.
“I don’t know [how I won the first set],” Rublev said. “I was super lucky, it was my mistake. I was 4-2 up, I had an easy ball and I played it where he was and he passed me. From that moment the match started to change and he was 5-4 up with a break. Somehow I was able to stay there and I was able to turn it around.”
The 26-year-old Moscow native has been a dominant force at the ATP 500-series level, once going on a 23-match winning streak, and he already owns five titles at this level.
Around the Erste Bank Open
• No. 6 seed Tommy Paul of the United States, who is amomg the players trying to move up this week in the Pepperstone ATP Race to Turin – he currently sits is in 12th place, 515 points behind Holger Rune, who occupies the last provisional qualified spot – defeated 84th-ranked French qualifier Alexander Muller, 6-3, 6-1, in 70 minutes. Paul hit 19 winners and broke his opponent’s serve four times. Next, he faces the winner between Aslan Karatsev of Russia and Croatian wild card Borna Gojo, who play Wednesday.
Speedrunning into the next round of #erstebankopen ⚡ pic.twitter.com/VaQfdz3WqH
— Erste Bank Open (@ErsteBankOpen) October 24, 2023
• No. 74 Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic faced just one break point and was not broken during his 55-minute 6-3, 6-1 upset win over No. 56 Aleksandar Vukic of Australia. He’s coming off a quarterfinal run at Stockholm last week after capturing a pair of Challenger titles at Orleans and Mouilleron le Captif in France. Next, Machac will play No. 4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
• No. 7 seed Frances Tiafoe of the United States advanced when No. 35 Daniel Evans was forced to retire due to an injury while leading 4-1 in the first set after 31 minutes. Evans aggravated an injury to his right calf muscle while attempting to chase down a Tiafoe backhand drop shot. Next, Tiafoe will play either Stockholm champion Gaël Monfils of France or Germany’s Daniel Altmaier in the second round.
• Lucky loser Lorenzo Sonego of Italy, who was inserted into the main draw on Monday in place of American Mackenzie McDonald, made the most of his opportunity for redemption by defeating No. 21 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, in two hours and 19 minutes. The 52nd-ranked Sonego hit 20 winners and outpointed his opponent 103-85 to advance against either World No. 4 and second seed Jannik Sinner of Italy or World No. 15 Ben Shelton of the United States, who won his first ATP Tour singles title at Tokyo on Sunday.
Welcome to the next round, Lorenzo Sonego 🇮🇹
A three-set win over Cerundolo with a score of 6-4 5-7 6-2 on #glaubandich court for the Italian 🤌 pic.twitter.com/wdYZ3NfCuH— Erste Bank Open (@ErsteBankOpen) October 24, 2023
• World No. 17 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria improved to 20-2 in opening rounds this season after defeating No. 22 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, 6-3, 6-4, in an hour and 33 minutes. Dimitrov hit eight aces and 21 winners against Musetti, who fell to 5-13 against Top 20 opponents in 2023 and is winless indoors this season. Dimitrov will await the winner of Wednesday’s first-round match between World No. 3 and top seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia and European Open runner-up Arthur Fils of France.
Wednesday’s Erste Bank order of play
By the numbers
Andre Rublev owns an 18-5 record in opening round matches in 2023, at one point winning 13 in a row. He won the Erste Bank title in 2020, which was part of a 23-match win streak he enjoyed at the ATP 500 level (including 2020 titles at Hamburg, St. Petersburg and Vienna, and in 2021 at Rotterdam).
“Quotable …”
“At the end of the day, tennis is tennis. You’ve got to win by playing tennis and I did well managing certain things today. I think, all in all, the crowd here is always good and fair. They are always very energetic and loud, but I was happy with today.”
– Alexander Zverev of Germany, in an interview with ATPTour.com, following his first-round victory over Austria’s Sebastian Ofner on Monday.
