Estoril, Portugal–
Dominic Thiem had given some very encouraging signs in his previous matches here in Estoril, especially his very dominant 6-2 6-2 win over Ben Shelton in the previous round. But it was back to reality today as he won only five games against Quentin Halys, allowing the Frenchman into his first-ever ATP semifinal.
After the match, Thiem was visibly disappointed with his performance, citing his poor serving as the main reason for this loss: “I’m still very inconsistent. Serve wasn’t here today. It’s still a positive week for me, first time in 7 months that I win back to back matches, which isn’t obviously a great stat”.
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Back-to-back wins at the ATP level after such a long time is obviously a very good achievement but the manner of this defeat, in a match where he was favored to win, once again casts doubts over whether Thiem will ever be able to come close to the level he had pre-injury. Halys on clay is one of the softest draws he could possibly wish for at the quarterfinal stage of an ATP event, and he even had the support of the Portuguese crowd to help him, and he still couldn’t pull through.
Thiem will still take some encouragement from his earlier victories this week, especially the one against Ben Shelton, and he’s surely not giving up. He’ll keep trying his best to regain his former glory but it’s getting harder and harder to picture it happening. It’s not only Thiem’s serve that’s not working; his forehand, once massive and dominant, has now lost most of its pop and is leaking errors left and right. Thiem is a mere shadow of the player who won the US Open a mere two and a half years ago and at this point it’s hard to see how he finds his way back.
Main Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
