Prior to this week, Dominic Thiem had never won a match at the Rogers Cup. Now the Austrian is through to the quarter-finals of the tournament.
The second seed saw off former US Open champion Marin Cilic 7-6(7), 6-4, in his third round match at the IGA Stadium in Montreal. Extending his perfect record against the Croat to 3-0. During the close encounter, Thiem managed to prevail with the help of 11 aces and he saved all nine of the break points he faced. In total the world No.4 hit 32 winners to 25 unforced errors.
Thiem is currently on a six-match winning streak after claiming his first ever ATP title on home soil last week in Kitzbuhel. Prior to Cilic, he dismissed home favourite Denis Shapovalov in three sets during his opening match. That clash was Thiem’s first competitive match on a hard court since March.
“I beat two amazing players. I’ve really had a great transition from a good confidence in the European summer.” Said Thiem.
“This is also my first quarter-finals here (in Canada). The match today was unreal because I saved nine out of nine breakpoints, which doesn’t happen that often.’
“Also at the end it got really tricky again. I served great basically all the second set, then the last games I got big troubles. So the match had everything. I’m really satisfied.”
It was the win in Austria last week on the clay that Thiem credits his latest run to. Despite the limited preparation he has had to transition between the two surfaces, the 25-year-old believes he is more mentally stronger than previous years. Prior to 2019, Thiem had lost his opening match at the Rogers Cup for five consecutive years.
“The last three, four years I didn’t play worse than this year, but I just came with low confidence and I came a little bit sad to Canada because I didn’t play good in my own home tournament where I usually, of course, have a lot of pressure.” He explained.
“This year everything is different. I won this title at home. I made one of my biggest dreams come true. Of course, I’m so confident coming here. That’s the difference. That’s also make the transition pretty easy.”
Despite his record on the clay, Thiem’s first taste of Masters victory took place on a hard court in Indian Wells back in March. So far this season, he has won three ATP titles. Making it the fourth season where he has managed to claim a trio of ATP titles within the past five years.
Thiem will be hoping to continue his winning momentum in the next round against Daniil Medvedev. Medvedev, who was runner-up at the Citi Open last week, downed Christian Garin 6-3, 6-3, with relative ease.
“It’s going to be very, very tough match.” Previewed Thiem, who leads their head-to-head 2-0.
“I played him in the Barcelona final, which was of course in my favour because it’s clay. I think it’s not his favourite surface. Then we had a great, close match in St. Petersburg, which was a very high level.”
Thiem is the first Austrian man to reach the last eight of the Rogers Cup since Jurgen Melzer back in 2004.
