Preview: Tsitsipas, Thiem Renew Rivalry In Madrid

Five Top 10 seeds will open their Mutua Madrid Open campaigns on Saturday at the ATP Masters 1000, with the second round of singles action to be completed on Day 4 of main-draw play.

Two men’s matches feature on Manolo Santana Stadium, with Stefanos Tsitsipas meeting Dominic Thiem and Daniil Medvedev facing Andrea Vavassori. Felix Auger-Aliassime, Taylor Fritz and Denis Shapovalov highlight the ATP Tour action on Arantxa Sanchez Stadium, while a busy doubles slate sees each of the top three seeds in their first action of the week.

ATPTour.com breaks down some of the biggest matchups on Saturday’s schedule across the men’s singles draw and men’s doubles draw.

[4] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) vs. Dominic Thiem (AUT)

The past two meetings between Tsitsipas and Thiem both came at the Nitto ATP Finals — in the 2019 final, won in a third-set tie-break by Tsitsipas, and the 2020 group stage, when Thiem won in three sets. Thiem leads their overall ATP Head2Head 5-3, with their history including five meetings in 2018.

But the familiar foes have not squared off since their November 2020 meeting in the London season finale. After Thiem beat Kyle Edmund 6-4, 6-1 to set up this marquee matchup, the Austrian was excited to renew the rivalry.

“I am looking forward to that one a lot,” he said of their second-round meeting. “I like him a lot. He is an unbelievable player, I like watching his matches. He is very elegant. We’ve had some great matchups.”

Thiem is hoping to build on reaching two quarter-finals in his past three events (Estoril, Munich), while Tsitsipas aims to stay hot after reaching the final last week in Barcelona. The Greek is rounding into form following a post-Australian Open dip in which he did not win more than two matches at four straight tournaments.

“I consider myself a candidate for this tournament in terms of having good results,” Tsitsipas said of his chances in Madrid. “The run I had in Barcelona brought me joy because after the Australian Open I didn’t go deep in tournaments. Now I’ve had a first glimpse of what it is to be strong again. Things are looking pretty bright.”

Both Tsitsipas and Thiem have excelled on clay courts throughout their careers, with Tsitsipas winning three titles on the surface to Thiem’s 10. At their best, both can win with consistency or power from the baseline behind heavy ground strokes. A key tactical component to this match will be how often Tsitsipas uses his all-court game to attack the net, and how well Thiem can fend off those approaches with his trademark, vicious passing shots.

[2] Daniil Medvedev vs. Andrea Vavassori (ITA)

Daniil Medvedev entered the European clay swing as the hottest player on the ATP Tour, winning four of five tournaments — including his maiden title in Miami — and reaching the final in Indian Wells. While his run of consecutive finals came to an end in Monte-Carlo, Medvedev picked up two quality wins against Lorenzo Sonego and Alexander Zverev before falling to eventual finalist Holger Rune.

He again opens opposite an Italian this week in Andrea Vavassori, who beat Andy Murray 6-2, 7-6(7) on Thursday. The 27-year-old qualified for the Madrid main draw after reaching the quarter-finals or better at four straight ATP Challenger Tour events coming into the week.

After beating Murray to mark his ATP Masters 1000 main-draw debut, the Italian will hope his four matches on the Madrid clay serve him in good stead against Medvedev, who is competing in the Spanish capital for the first time since 2021.

Medvedev has just one match win in three Madrid appearances, but feels the unique conditions at the event give him a good chance of success this week.

“It’s definitely different. I would say it’s a little bit like Roland Garros clay where it’s kind of on a harder surface,” Medvedev said of the surface. “Also altitude, so the balls are flying. What I see from results of many people, I should be able to actually play better here than other clay court tournaments. So far, I was not able to do it. But every year is a new opportunity. This year is another one, and I’m going to try to just play my best and hopefully play some good tennis.”

[8] Taylor Fritz vs. Christopher O’Connell (AUS)

Fritz has also flashed his clay-court credentials this season, reaching consecutive semi-finals in Monte-Carlo and Munich. He picked up his first Top 10 win on the surface by beating two-time defending champion Tsitsipas in the Monte-Carlo quarters, becoming the first American man to reach the Monaco semi-finals in 20 years.

Australia’s Christopher O’Connell also enters Madrid on the back of two straight semi-finals, the first in Split on the ATP Challenger Tour and the second last week in Munich.

Both competitors have been in some of the best form of their careers this season. Fritz reached a career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking of No. 5 in February, becoming the first American to hit the mark since Andy Roddick, while O’Connell reached a career high of World No. 78 last November and currently sits three points shy of that mark.

Also In Action…

In addition to the Fritz vs. O’Connell matchup, two more ATP contests will feature on Arantxa Sanchez Stadium. Auger-Aliassime will open his campaign against Dusan Lajovic, with the seventh seed seeking his first win in three tries against the Serbian, who last week defeated Novak Djokovic and Andrey Rublev en route to the Banja Luka title. Later in the day on Madrid’s second stage, Shapovalov will face China’s Zhang Zhizhen for the first time.

On Stadium 3, ninth seed Frances Tiafoe meets Tomas Martin Etcheverry and 11th seed Cameron Norrie faces Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki. Tiafoe and Paul were doubles opponents on Friday, with Tiafoe and Fritz beating Norrie and Tommy Paul in a Match Tie-break.

All three of the top doubles seeds will see their first action on Friday as well. Top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski face Germans Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz, second seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury meet Jamie Murray and Michael Venus, and third seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek take on Simone Bolelli and Fabrice Martin.