After exactly 1:05 hours, Thiem used his second match ball in the town hall and impressively confirmed his role as a favorite. The 27-year-old will now face Russian Andrej Rublew in the quarter-finals (second game after 2 p.m.) on Friday. The number five of the tournament made it into the round of the best eight even faster than Thiem, because Jannik Sinner (ITA) gave up due to injury at the score of 2: 1 for Rublew.
Thiem, who had to fight the Ukrainian Vitali Satschko even more than he liked in the first round, was satisfied with the performance against the world number 22 Garin, who had no chance that evening. “It was a very good game, very solid from start to finish. I played very well against good opponents, I’m happy, ”said Austria’s number one.
Service is made to measure
The 27-year-old could look forward to a tailor-made start to the game on his second appearance as the reigning US Open winner in the Wiener Stadthalle. The Lower Austrian took the 2-0 serve from Garin at his first chance and thus laid the foundation for a sure win of the first set.
Thiem missed further chances of a break, but due to the strength of his serve it was not a drama. Garin, who surprisingly eliminated the three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka from Switzerland in the first round, didn’t even come close to a break at Service Thiem. Austria’s number one finally used his third set ball to 6: 3 on his own serve. The first round had only taken a little more than half an hour.
Thiem wins first set
Austria’s number one used his second set ball to win the first round after a little over 30 minutes.
Even in the second movement, the approximately 1,000 spectators in the town hall were not offered any longer action. Thiem started the sentence a little less concentrated, but found himself out before Garin was allowed to speculate with a comeback. When the score was 2: 2, the Chilean gave Thiem the break to lead with a double mistake and had to watch the Austrian play the game home. Garin was able to fend off a match ball, but after the second Thiem was allowed to celebrate as a quarter-finalist.
“Difficult task” against Rublew
Against Rublew, whom he described on the court as one of his “favorite people and favorite training partner on the tour”, Thiem expects an “incredibly difficult” game. “He just moved into the top ten last week and I would say that the way he is playing now he is in the top five players in the world. He plays every ball at top speed, ”said Thiem. “It will be an incredibly difficult task.”
