2023-08-05 14:14:29
Nothing came of the big happy ending at the Kitzbühel Generali Open for Dominic Thiem. The local hero lost 3: 6, 1: 6 in the final of the ATP tennis tournament against Argentinian Sebastian Baez, who was also unseeded. For the South American it is the third title on the tour, the second this year. Thiem’s record remains at 17 titles, the Lower Austrian had won his last before his wrist injury in September 2020 at the US Open.
Since the opening game in the quarter-finals against Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech, Thiem had avoided a break against himself and even fended off twelve attacks on his service games in the semi-finals against the Serb Laslo Djere. It didn’t take long for him to bow out against the tournament’s best return player. The 22-year-old Baez, once number one in the junior world rankings and a proven clay court specialist, took a 3-1 lead and didn’t burn much in his service games. With a solid game, the “Gaucho” served to lead the sentence.
At the beginning of the second half, the rain got heavier again, because of the constant rain and its consequences, the game started about an hour and a half late. From then on, only Thiem was in the rain, with the fatigue from the 3:30 hour match the previous evening against Djere in his bones, he found no recipe against number 72 in the world rankings for a long time. With Baez’ break to 4: 1, the preliminary decision had been made in a stadium that was sold out for the fourth day in a row, but in the game afterwards Thiem’s fans still had hope.
With a suddenly more powerful game, he forced the server Baez on the defensive and worked out his first two break points in the game. Alone, Baez withstood the attacks, made it 5:1 and, to crown his performance, broke again to win the match. The game was over after just 1:20 hours. Baez will improve to 42 in the world rankings on Monday, his career high is 30. Thiem is at least returning to the top 90. In 2019 he had won the Kitz trophy, in the final he had already lost in the final in 2014.
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