Thiem Continues Strong Start
Thiem Continues Strong Start
No. 8 seed into Brisbane quarter-finals with 6-3, 6-2 win over Kudla
The youngest player in the Top 20 of the Emirates ATP Rankings just keeps getting better. On Wednesday at Pat Rafter Arena, 22-year-old Austrian Dominic Thiem rolled into the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International with a speedy 6-3, 6-2 win over Denis Kudla.
Thiem made his Brisbane debut a day earlier, defeating James Duckworth 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
The first service break came 19 minutes into the match, Thiem surging ahead 4-2 as the 23-year-old Kudla failed to close out a 40-0 game. He would win 20 of 26 service points in taking the opening set.
Thiem again found an opening with the 69th-ranked American serving at 2-all, 30-40 in the second set, and didn’t waste the opportunity. He added another break with Kudla serving at 2-4, and subsequently served out the match in an efficient 56 minutes.
It was a banner service day for Thiem, who never faced a break point. In addition, he totaled seven aces, and won 28 of 33 (84%) of his first-serve points.
It was their first career FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.
Last year, Thiem became the first Austrian to finish in the Top 20 (No. 20) since Jurgen Melzer in 2010, capturing the first three ATP World Tour titles of career— all on clay (Nice, Umag and Gstaad).
On the doubles court, the wild card pairing of Aussies Matt Reid and John-Patrick Smith defeated Mate Pavic and Michael Venus 7-6(1), 6-4.