At the end of March there was still one win compared to nine defeats: Dominic Thiem is still not getting going in the new season. For Austria’s number one, the Miami Open presented by Itaú was again the end of the first main round. The Lower Austrian (ATP 106), equipped with a wildcard, had to beat Italian Lorenzo Sonego (ATP 59) 6: 7 (7th to 8th) in the night from Thursday to Friday after CET at the start of the ATP Masters 1000 hard court tournament on the US east coast ), beaten 2:6. The 29-year-old lost out a second time in the third duel between the two. He only has ten ATP points for competing in the main draw of the event worth millions ($8.8 million in prize money).
Thiem offered an absolutely appealing performance against Sonego in the first set, but once again didn’t have luck on his side at the moment. With no break possibility, it went into the tie-break, where the US Open winner of 2020 was able to catch up the first mini-break to 2: 4 to 4: 5 and even found a set ball at 6: 5, but a backhand pass ball just didn’t find it his goal. After a well-defended set ball at 6:7, he made two avoidable forehand errors in a row that cost the set. In the second round, Thiem’s game initially fell apart, he lost 14 of the first 17 points and quickly fell 0: 4 behind. Of course, you couldn’t deny his efforts, and so he fought his way back to 2:4. But when he had to give up his serve again to make it 3:4 after a fight and a cue ball to make it 2:5, the match was over.
For Thiem it is important to check off this further disappointment as quickly as possible. Because the week after next, the clay court season starts on the ATP tour – and with it his normally strongest phase of the season, on his favorite surface. In Miami, however, red-white-red only has the ÖTV Davis Cup double Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler in the quiver. The Tyrolean and the Lower Austrian are now appearing together for the first time at an ATP Masters 1000 event, but have to wait for their first assignment for the time being: The match between the two against the Colombian ex-world number ones Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah was also not planned for Friday, should therefore only take place on Saturday.
Here are all the results of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Miami.
