Dominic Thiem reached the first sixteen of the Erste Bank Open on Tuesday. The US Open champion won his opening game in the Wiener Stadthalle against the newcomer Vitali Satschko with more effort than expected and after a playing time of 1:46 hours 6: 4 7: 5. For a successful title defense, Thiem will need an increase.
Thiem acted too incorrectly against the committed and unexpectedly strong Ukrainian player for long stretches. Austria’s number one gave away a clear lead in both sets against the 23-year-old Satschko, who is in 529th place in the world rankings and slipped into the main competition as a “lucky loser”. In the end, Thiem managed to make the decisive breaks. In the next round, the 27-year-old from Lower Austria will face the Swiss Stan Wawrinka or the Chilean Cristian Garin.
“It’s an incredible feeling to be back at home. It’s one of the most important tournaments for me. The mood was sensational. I watched Satschko’s games a little. Everyone who is there can play tennis really well. For me it was the first match after Paris. I had to shut down the system completely. It’s never easy to play the first match – especially against an opponent I’ve never played against. I must have given up the service too often. But I’m satisfied, I enjoyed it, ”said Thiem.
Thiem takes the opening hurdle in Vienna
The most beautiful points of the duel were played in the last game. In the end, Dominic Thiem was the winner against Vitali Satschko.
Thiem gives 5: 1 lead out of hand
At the beginning of the game, the difference of 526 places in the world rankings was still noticeable. Satschko was overwhelmed with the situation of his first game in an ATP main competition and the blows from Thiem. The Ukrainian made some avoidable mistakes, Thiem quickly moved away to 3-0. With a winner from the backhand, Austria’s number one made another break to 5: 1 and was faced with a quick lead.
The sentence, however, took a curious turn. Thiem lost the tension in view of the clear lead and gave the Ukrainian a break to 2: 5 with two double mistakes and one volley. Satschko, who impressed above all with his service (84 percent first serve), sensed his chance for a comeback. With the second break in a row, the blatant underdog was suddenly back in the game and even had two balls to equalize 5-5. Thiem turned the game around and scored his first set ball with a forehand winner after 41 minutes.
Highlights from sentence one
Dominic Thiem took command early against Witali Satschko, but then had to fight for the lead.
High intensity duel
Satschko had taken a liking to the game, played carefree and took Thiem off again right at the beginning of the second set. The US Open winner managed the rebreak immediately. With a double mistake, the Ukrainian gave up his serve for the fifth time and subsequently fell 4-1. The duel only apparently finally took the expected course. Decency to play the win easily home, Thiem continued to act too impatiently and incorrectly.
Satschko countered, gratefully accepted the presents from the Austrian and with three games in a row managed to equalize to 4: 4. He had long since got used to Thiem’s pace, continued to play bravely and braced himself against the defeat. But he didn’t make it into the tie-break. Thiem worked out two match balls in a now intense game with great rallies, of which he used the second with a perfect backhand.
