Tsitsipas dashes Austrian hopes as he moves past Thiem and into the second round in Vienna

Tsitsipas beat the Austrian 7-6 (5), 6-4 in a high-quality encounter in Vienna. He will play Czech qualifier Tomas Machac in the next round

Stefanos Tsitsipas competes at the Vienna Open 2023 © Gepa / Panoramic

Jamie Malachy

October 24, 2023

Erste Bank Open •Third round • completed

See draw

S. TsitsipasvsD. Thiem

Stefanos Tsitsipas won the battle of the one-handed backhands as he came through against Dominic Thiem, beating the Austrian 7-6 (5), 6-4 in front of his home fans at the Wiener Stadthalle.

With this victory, Tsitsipas nudges ahead of Thiem in their career head-to-head, with the Greek now leading 6-5 and having won all three of their most recent encounters.

It was a high-quality match, one that was worthy of more than a first-round billing. Due to Thiem’s current world ranking of 99, however, he entered his home event as a wildcard, meaning that a big-name match-up in the first round was always a possibility.

Gripping first set goes on serve with little to separate the players

On the lightning-quick Viennese courts, neither player faced a single break point in the first set as both served excellently to take the opener down to the wire.

In the tiebreak, it was the Austrian who made the first move, nudging ahead for a 4-2 lead as Tsitsipas’ usually reliable forehand began to misfire. Thiem was unable to take advantage of his opponent’s fragilities, however, as Tsitsipas rallied to clinch a set that couldn’t have been any closer.

Both players’ winner-to-unforced-error ratios were in the positive as a breathless first stanza went the way of the Greek by just a single point in total.

Thiem and Tsitsipas entertain Austrian crowd with high-quality match

Tsitsipas was immediately on the back foot again in his opening service game of the second set, but he successfully fended off three early break points in a lengthy game, before breaking the Austrian in the next to gain a firm stranglehold on the match.

Thiem then saved a couple of break points of his own in game five to stay in touch with Tsitsipas, but the early break’s damage had already been done. The rest of the match went on serve, as the world No 7 sealed victory with an ace to close out a compelling contest.

Promising performance from Thiem, while all eyes on Turin qualification for Tsitsipas

The quality on show kept the Viennese crowd enthralled to the last ball, but they would have dearly loved to see their much-adored home hope progress, who was given a rapturous applause on his exit from the court.

Thiem will rue some missed opportunities, letting a lead slip in the opening set tiebreak and failing to break Tsitsipas at the start of the second after applying immense pressure. But he can and should take heart from yet another hugely promising showing against a world-class player, in a season where he has made big strides back towards his best level.

Tsitsipas, meanwhile, looked in fine form and was good value for his win, apart from the temporary issues with his forehand towards the end of the first set.

He will play Czech qualifier Tomas Machac in the next round, as the Greek looks to make sure of his place in next month’s season-ending ATP Finals in Turin.

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