Dominic Thiem played his best match since returning from injury, but it was not enough against a very inspired Benjamin Bonzi as he lost at the 2022 Estoril Open.
The French player is slowly starting to get a feel for the ATP Tour after breaking inside the Top 100 last year with a sensational run at the ATP Challenger Tour, where he won over twenty matches in a row.
At the ATP 250 event in Estoril, he played another strong match to take down Thiem, who is still struggling after not playing in over a year. Given how much time he spent away from the courts, the Austrian's struggles are not surprising, and his improvement is already visible.
Thiem received a wild card to play at the 2022 Estoril Open, a tournament held only a week after his most recent loss at the 2022 Serbia Open in Belgrade, where he was overpowered by John Millman.
The start of the match in Estoril was not bad for the 2020 US Open champion, but it was not good either. He committed many errors and generally played like a player who was missing matches.
Bonzi won that opening set 6-3 thanks to aggressive play. Thiem played much better in the second set, but overall, it wasn't enough for a break. The Frenchman mostly had no issues on his serve, and he applied heavy pressure on his opponent.
Thiem kept himself alive with his serve as Bonzi struggled to keep the ball in play. It was settled in the tie-break, with Bonzi jumping to a 2-0 lead. Thiem turned it around to lead 4-2, and for the most part, he was ahead in the tie-break.
He had three set points overall before Bonzi got his second match point, which he converted to win the match 6-3, 7-6(9), and advance to the next round of the 2022 Estoril Open, eliminating a former major champion in the process.
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