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Darderi sinks Thiem, ends Austrian’s career in Vienna

  • Posted: Oct 22, 2024

Luciano Darderi had little time for sentiment on Tuesday at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna.

The Italian dialled in for a 7-6(6), 6-2 triumph against Dominic Thiem in the final match of the former World No. 3’s career. Darderi kept his cool in a raucous atmosphere at the Wiener Stadthalle, where he edged Thiem in a tight opening set before accelerating to a 91-minute victory.

The 17-time tour-level champion Thiem produced some trademark moments of brilliance in his final outing as a pro, including a couple of rasping backhand winners that had the home fans on their feet. Yet Darderi, the No. 42 in the PIF ATP Rankings, did not let the occasion get the better of him and was ultimately a deserved winner on his Vienna debut.

After Darderi hammered a forehand to secure his win, he was congratulated at the net by Thiem. The Austrian was then in turn saluted by his home crowd, and he also gave a short on-court speech to thank them for their support.

“I’ve had so many nice goodbyes in the last few months, but today I want to say thank you for all the sensational years,” said Thiem. “I am only a part of this career. The whole journey has been an absolute dream and I want this afternoon, this evening to be yours. I couldn’t have imagined it any better. Thank you!”

Thiem had opened a 4-2 lead early in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Darderi, but the 22-year-old Italian responded superbly and finished the match having converted three of five break points he earned, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Darderi arrived in Vienna on a seven-match losing streak, but he will now head into his second-round meeting with seventh seed Jack Draper, a 7-6(5), 7-5 winner against Kei Nishikori, full of confidence. The Cordoba champion Darderi, who had earned only one tour-level win prior to 2024, is 24-23 for the season.

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My Influences: How Sinner helped Fonseca make this critical decision…

  • Posted: Oct 22, 2024

Brazil’s Joao Fonseca enjoyed a taste of the big time at the Nitto ATP Finals last year when he served as a hitting partner at the prestigious year-end event.

The 18-year-old practised with Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in Turin, gaining valuable advice and experience. Today, Fonseca is in strong contention to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF after. He has enjoyed a standout 2024 that has included tour-level quarter-finals in Rio de Janeiro and Bucharest.

As part of our Next Gen Influences series, Fonseca caught up with ATPTour.com to talk about his admiration for previous Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF champions and other inspirations in his life.

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Which former Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF champion did you enjoy watching most when growing up?
Many good players have won the title and I would say the one that I really like to watch, and I really see in myself is Sinner. I really like his aggressive game. Technically, the way he plays aggressively is really my type.

Mentally, he is a bit more calm. He is a shy guy and I like the way that he competes. [He is] not too expressive so this is more similar to me.

Can you remember your first meeting with Jannik?
It was at the Nitto ATP Finals last year. I was a hitting partner and we hit on the first or second day. He is a really nice guy.

Since the beginning I was looking to go to university. I was committed to [the University of] Virginia and he said to me, ‘Are you going to university?’ He said, ‘You are too good for this, go to [the] pros’. So that was a nice thing. I thought this guy was kidding me and playing a joke. That was the first time I had practised with him and he was really nice, as were his coaches.

Can you talk to me about Brazilian legend Gustavo Kuerten?
My first interaction with Guga was at the Davis Cup at the start of the year. He said some really nice stuff to the whole team. [He shared] his experience, the way he managed his career after so many injuries. It is really inspiring and he is an idol. He is a really nice person and he has said some really nice stuff.

Who have been the other biggest influences in your life?
Of course, my dad, I would say he’s an idol for me. He helped me a lot in the process of my career. I am really thankful for him and mom. My dad is my agent. He does all my stuff.

That’s really nice, for my parents to also work with me, so it’s really nice to have those type of parents with me. They help me. They cheer for me. So I don’t know about a specific story, but that is a thing that both my parents, they helped me with traveling, sponsors.

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‘We wish him all the best’: Vienna fans pay tribute to retiring Thiem

  • Posted: Oct 22, 2024

He may have retired at the relatively premature age of 31, but Dominic Thiem will nonetheless leave behind a significant legacy after hanging up his racquet.

Nowhere is that clearer than in Vienna, where the home favourite on Tuesday ended his pro career after falling to a first-round defeat against Luciano Darderi at the Erste Bank Open. Thiem, a former No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings and 17-time tour-level champion, was roared on by his home fans for one final, emotional effort at his home ATP 500.

“He means a lot,” Thiem fan Petra Höllerl told ATPTour.com when asked what the 2020 US Open champion has done for Austrian tennis. “He was one of the best, and along with Thomas Muster he is our hero. For our kids and for us, so we are a little bit lost now… It was his last match, so we supported him and trusted him. We wish him all the best.”

Daniela and her young son Niklas, who were also at the Wiener Stadthalle for Tuesday’s match, also spoke specifically about Thiem’s influence on young people.

“I think he is very important,” explained Daniela. He is an idol, especially for the younger ones. I am from the former generation that loved Thomas Muster, but for my son, his idol is Dominic Thiem.”

Thiem may be retiring as a superstar of Austrian sport, but many of his fans have been following him since he emerged as a talented teenager. They see the same qualities in the 31-year-old as they did all those years ago.

“I’ve seen him play many times because my eldest daughter was a ballkid at the Erste Bank Open from the age of eight,” recalled Petra Gassner. “Now she is 21 and still volunteers here. We followed Thiem on his journey, from when he was 16 until now. He is a very nice and gentle person.

“I liked his character and how he treated other people and engaged with them. It’s a little bit sad that his career is ending now when he is 31, but it goes this way.”

<img alt=”Dominic Thiem Fans” style=”width: 100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/10/22/17/10/thiem-vienna-2024-fans-signs.jpg” />

Fans in Vienna came out in force to support Austrian tennis icon Thiem in his final pro event. Photo Credit: e-motion/Sascha Feuster

Thiem had plenty of success on home soil throughout his career. In 2019, he triumphed at both the clay-court ATP 250 in Kitzbühel and in Vienna. The 31-year-old is clear on the role his home supporters played in such successes.

“They always gave me such a nice atmosphere,” Thiem told ATPTour.com. “The Austrian fans were always supporting me so nicely, which was amazing. I always loved to play in front of them.

“What I cannot underestimate is that I think I won quite a lot of matches only with their help. I think there were many close matches which would never have gone my way without the fans in Austria.”

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Shelton returns to Live Top 20, Tsitsipas wins Basel rollercoaster

  • Posted: Oct 22, 2024

Big-serving left-hander Ben Shelton pushed back inside the Top 20 of the PIF ATP Live Rankings with a commanding 6-3, 6-4 win over Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the first round of the Swiss Indoors Basel Tuesday.

Climbing three places to No. 20, the former University of Florida standout joins countrymen No. 6 Taylor Fritz, No. 12 Tommy Paul and No. 15 Frances Tiafoe in the elite club.

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Competing for the first time since a competitive defeat to World No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the fourth round of the Rolex Shanghai Masters, Shelton dropped just six points on his first serve and saved the lone break point he faced according to Infosys ATP Stats.

The 22-year-old improved to 38-23 on the year as he attempts to reach a season milestone of 40 wins for the first time in his career.

“I went into the match with a lot of confidence because of the way I have been playing,” Shelton said. “This is the type of surface I’m really comfortable on and my game is coming together really well. Two more tournaments this year and I’m pushing strong to the end.

“I came out and executed a good game plan.”

Third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas claimed a rollercoaster 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-6(4) win over Francisco Cerundolo in the last match of the night session. The Greek looked headed for a runaway win when he had two break points to lead by a set and 5-2. But the Argentine clawed back to win the set and then served for the match at 6-5 before Tsitsipas came from behind in the tie-break to claim the win in two hours and 32 minutes.

The 26-year-old claimed just his second Top 30 win on hard courts this season as he pounded 15 forehand winners to collect his 41st match win of the year.

Twelfth in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin and still with a remote chance of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals, which he won in 2019, Tsitsipas claimed his 11th consecutive win against Argentine opponents.

Returning to Basel for the first time since reaching the semi-finals in 2019, the former World No. 3 seeks his second title of the season (Monte-Carlo) and just his second hard-court title in the past four seasons.

Fourth seed Holger Rune kept alive his faint hopes of returning to the Nitto ATP Finals after defeating Chilean Nicolas Jarry 6-4, 7-6(3) in their first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.

Chasing his first title of the year, the 2022 Basel finalist is 15th in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin, 1,145 points behind eighth-placed Andrey Rublev.

The 21-year-old Dane, who seeks to reach the Basel semi-finals (or better) for the third straight year, dropped just four points on his first serve and did not face a break point.

Swiss wild card Dominic Stricker defeated Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 6-4, 6-4 after firing 14 aces and winning 31 of 35 first-serve points en route to just his fourth tour-level victory of the season.

 

 

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De Minaur digs deep for opening Vienna win, boosts Turin hopes

  • Posted: Oct 22, 2024

Alex de Minaur had to hang tough to overcome Jan-Lennard Struff and book his second-round spot at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna.

The second-seeded Australian shook off a slow start to earn a 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 triumph on Tuesday afternoon at the indoor hard-court ATP 500. De Minaur converted four of six break points he earned across the second and third sets, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to seal a one-hour, 42-minute win and advance to face Flavio Cobolli.

De Minaur returned to competitive action for the first time since the US Open last week in Antwerp, where he reached the quarter-finals. His winning start in Vienna is a boost to the 25-year-old’s hopes of securing a Nitto ATP Finals debut this year: De Minaur is currently ninth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, 265 points shy of Andrey Rublev in eighth.

Having begun the year with a 2-2 Lexus ATP Head2Head record against Struff, De Minaur has since notched a hat-trick of wins against the big-hitting German, at the Miami Open presented by Itau, Roland Garros and the Erste Bank Open, respectively. The way he battled to victory in Tuesday’s encounter was another example of the extra level that De Minaur has found across the season.

“At the end of the day, there’s no better measurements than results to see your improvement,” De Minaur, who reached his career-high No. 6 in the PIF ATP Rankings in July, told ATPTour.com. “I’m very happy with the way my level has improved this year and the types of wins I’m getting. Today was another tough one, so I’m very happy.”

Frances Tiafoe also advanced on Tuesday in the Austrian capital. The fifth seed saw off Cameron Norrie 6-4, 7-6(4) to set a second-round showdown with Matteo Berrettini.

A finalist in 2021 in Vienna, Tiafoe let slip a 3-1 lead in the second set against Norrie but went on to hold his nerve in the subsequent tie-break. The American still holds an outside chance of reaching the Nitto ATP Finals, but would likely need deep runs this week in Vienna and at next week’s Rolex Paris Masters in order to claim one of the eight qualification spots.

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Medvedev joins Sinner, Alcaraz & Zverev at Nitto ATP Finals

  • Posted: Oct 22, 2024

Daniil Medvedev has qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals for the sixth consecutive season, joining Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev at the season finale.

The 28-year-old won the title at the year-end championships in 2020 and reached the final in 2021. He will try to add to his Nitto ATP Finals resume from 10-17 November in Turin.

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The former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings made his sixth major final at the Australian Open, defeating back-to-back Top 10 opponents Hubert Hurkacz and Alexander Zverev in five-setters to make his third championship match at Melbourne Park. It is the fourth consecutive season in which he has advanced to the final at a Grand Slam tournament.

That was not the only major success for Medvedev this year. He made the semi-finals at Wimbledon, upsetting top seed Sinner in the quarter-finals before falling short against eventual champion Alcaraz.

The 20-time tour-level titlist also reached the final at the BNP Paribas Open, the ATP Masters 1000 event at Indian Wells. Medvedev has tallied a 45-18 record, including six semi-finals, and he is still pursuing his first title of the season.

Medvedev owns an 11-9 record at the Nitto ATP Finals. Last year, he reached the knockout stages, but lost a three-set semi-final to home favourite Sinner.

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