Erste Bank Open: Despite Loss, It Was Thiem’s Night To Remember

Dominic Thiem, Erste Bank Open, Vienna
Dominic Thiem (photo: e|motion/Sascha Feuster)

VIENNA/WASHINGTON, October 22, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

Win or lose, it was Dominic Thiem‘s night to remember at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna Tuesday evening.  Before the first ball was served, Thiem won something — the coin toss conducted by chair umpire Fergus Murphy. The 31-year-old Austrian wild card elected to receive his opponent Luciano Darderi‘s serve in the opening game of his final first-round match of his career. Although his young Italian opponent held at love, Thiem was just getting warmed up.

If this was to be Thiem’s last professional match, the 2019 Vienna champion from nearby Wiener Neustadt was determined to have fun. Soon, the 318th-ranked Thiem let rip back-to-back, one-fisted backhand winners — his signature shot — in the fourth game of the opening set to wild applause. Game on!

As it happened, though, the 42nd-ranked Darderi prevailed over Thiem, 7-6 (6), 6-2 in the Austrian’s final match of his professional career. Credit to Darderi for maintaining his focus in throughout the 91-minute first-round match inside an electric atmosphere provided by the sold-out crowd that filled Wiener Stadthalle, where 9,500 fans did their best to will Thiem to a 349th career victory by cheering wildly for his every point.

In the opening set, Thiem opened a surprising 4-2 lead against Darderi, but it wasn’t meant to last. That’s because the 22-year-old Italian won the next three games to go ahead 5-4. Despite the dip in his levels, Thiem was determined to not hold anything back. He was too busy having the time of his life.

Each held their nerve and, shortly, the opening set would be determined by a tie-break. Although Thiem dashed to an early 3-0 advantage, Darderi reeled him back in and saved a set point at 6-5. Then, Darderi won the tie-break 8-6. The 58-minute opening set was his after Thiem hit a backhand long for one of his 25 unforced errors.

Darderi immediately broke Thiem to begin the second set and, soon, it was a double-break 4-1 advantage after the Italian won at love. After Darderi held for 5-1, Thiem enjoyed one last hurrah. He fired a trio of solid service aces — his ninth, tenth and eleventh — to hold his serve.

However, Darderi served out the win without much drama — his 24th of the season, which broke a seven-match losing streak — to advance against No. 7 seed Jack Draper of Great Britain. The 18th-ranked Brit eased past No. 141st-ranked Japanese wild card Kei Nishkori, 7-6 (5), 7-5, in one hour and 36 minutes. Draper served up 11 aces, hit 30 winners and outpointed Nishikori 79-69.

While Thiem, a 17-time ATP Tour champion — including his only major title at the 2020 US Open — produced some brilliant and wonderful moments in his last match, including 29 winners, it was Darderi who came out with the first-round victory in his Vienna debut. He closed with a third-shot overhead forehand winner — his 21st winner of the match. Darderi outpointed Thiem 69-55.

Thiem, who finished his career with a 348-215 win-loss record (including 2-9 this season), congratulated Darderi at net. He smiled at the Italian and the two exchanged pleasantries, patting each other on the chest. All was good between them and — just as important — Thiem appeared at peace with himself. He received heartfelt applause from the home crowd in Vienna.

Finally, Thiem spoke to his fans and thanked them for their support during a short speech. “I’ve had so many nice goodbyes in the last few months, but today I want to say thank you for all the sensational years,” he said (translated from German). “I am only a part of this career. The whole journey has been an absolute dream and I want this afternoon, this evening to be yours. I couldn’t have imagined it any better. Thank you!”

As part of Thiem’s goodbye ceremony, he walked his tennis racquet over and placed it into a display case that was carted out onto Center Court. It will be part of an exhibition, “The Official Tennis Experience,” located in Hall F of the Wiener Stadthalle.

Afterward, Thiem, still smiling, stayed on court to sign autographs and pose for selfies before departing Center Court for the last time.

De Minaur continues mastery of Struff

World No. 10 Alex de Minaur of Australia, currently ranked No. 9 on the PIF ATP Race to Turin after reaching the semifinals in Antwerp, came into this week’s play hoping to overtake No. 7 Casper Ruud or No. 8 Andrey Rublev, as he seeks to qualify for his first Nitto ATP Finals. Both Ruud and Rublev are competing in Basel.

In their third meeting of 2024, the second-seeded de Minaur rallied from a set down and won 12 of the last 16 games of his first-round match over No. 40 Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2, in an hour and 41 minutes on Center Court. It was Struff’s first ATP Tour action since the US Open due to suffering a hip injury.

De Minaur, who emerged the winner in both of his previous matches this season with Struff — at Miami and Roland-Garros — closed out his latest victory with an overhead winner that capped a 21-shot rally.

The Australian No. 1, who broke his opponent four times in six opportunities, dominated the final set by breaking Struff’s serve twice (in the third and fifth games). He also dominated the short rallies, winning 41 points when they were four shots or less.

De Minaur finished with 27 winners, including seven aces, and outpointed Struff 77-68 in collecting his fifth lifetime win over the German in seven meetings. Next, he will face No. 31 Flavio Cobolli of Italy in the second round.

Afterward, de Minaur told the ATP Tour website: “At the end of the day, there’s no better measurements than results to see your improvement. I’m very happy with the way my level has improved this year and the types of wins I’m getting. Today was another tough one, so I’m very happy.”

Tiafoe prevails over Norrie

World No. 15 and fifth seed Frances Tiafoe of the United States, a 2021 Vienna finalist, defeated No. 53 Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, 6-4, 7-6 (4), in one hour and 27 minutes on Center Court to advance to a second-round clash with No. 41 Matteo Berrettini of Italy on Wednesday night.

While Norrie looked to post his first tour-level win since missing over two months with a forearm injury, Tiafoe was trying to redeem himself after bowing last week in the Almaty quarterfinals as the top seed.

The American succeeded in winning just his third match against a left-handed opponent in 11 tries after going 14-1 in 2022-23. He fired 11 aces, hit 22 winners overall and lulled Norrie into committing 36 unforced errors. Tiafoe converted both of his break-point opportunities and outpointed Norrie 70-58 to collect his 33rd win of the season and hand his British opponent a 17th defeat in 2024.

Around the Erste Bank Open

No. 48 Marcos Giron hit 29 winners and won an all-American battle over No. 43 Alex Michelsen, 7-6 (4), 6-3, on the #Glaubandich Court, garnering victory on his third match-point try, to advance to Wednesday’s second round against World No. 3 and top seed Alexander Zverev of Germany. It was Giron’s second win in two meetings against Michelsen.

In their first meeting, No. 58 Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia defeated No. 44 Mariano Navone of Argentina, 6-2, 6-4, on the #Glaubandich Court to move into the second round against 51st-ranked Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic.

In an all-French affair on the #Glaubandich Court, No. 52 Gaël Monfils defeated 90th-ranked Quentin Halys, 7-6 (5), 6-3, to advance against No. 6 seed Lorenzo Musetti, who won the battle of the Italian Lorenzos over No. 49 Lorenzo Sonego, 6-3, 6-2.

In a first-round doubles match on the #Glaubandich Court, No. 2 seeds Rohan Bopanna of India and Matthew Ebden of Australia advanced with a 2-6, 7-5, 10-5 over wild cards Robin Haase of the Netherlands and Alexander Zverev of Germany.

Tuesday’s Erste Bank Open results

Wednesday’s Erste Bank Open order of play

By the numbers

Alex de Minaur is 14-3 in opening-round matches in 2024, including 8-1 on hard courts. He’s one of two players in the draw — along with Tommy Paul — who have won an ATP 500 event.

“Quotable …”

“It was definitely fun to play here. Of course, I was nervous, but that will pass with time.”

— Austrian wild card Joel Schwaerzler, during his post-match new conference, after losing to Alexander Zverev on Center Court.

“He’s a super player and a super talent. He will go a long way. He can definitely become Dominic Thiem’s successor in Austria, but you shouldn’t underestimate Dominic’s career. He has won a Grand Slam title and a Masters tournament. It’s not that easy. Joel got off to a great start [Monday]  and I was lucky to break him early. After that, things went a bit downhill for him. But that’s normal, this big stage is new to him.”

— World No. 3 and top seed Alexander Zverev, during his post-match news conference, describing Austrian teenager Joel Schwaerzler.

 

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