Dominic Thiem had to work really hard for a victory at the 2023 European Open, but he managed to pull out the win against Luca Nardi.
Nardi is a really solid tennis player who, unlike most Italians, plays his best tennis on hard courts. He's played indoors pretty well in the past and produced a solid level today as well, but Thiem pulled out a win after losing the opening set.
We've seen Thiem play some solid tennis this year, but for the most part, it's not the old Thiem. Yes, he can win a match, and he's winning matches as this one proves, but it's the level we've seen from Thiem in the past, and we're likely never to get it again.
Still, it was good enough for today despite Narid playing a really solid opening set, where he served amazingly. The Italian lost only four points on his serve in that first set, and there was nothing Thiem was able to do, especially as Nardi hit 15 winners.
He was really aggressive compared to Thiem, and the Austrian responded to that in the second set. He was much more aggressive, and it worked as he outhit Nardi by a few winners and actually won the set.
It was a pretty significant comeback because he was actually down a break in that set but pulled it out in the tiebreak. The final set was amazing by Thiem as he jumped out to a double break lead 4-0, which kind of sealed the win for him.
He was very precise without any unforced errors, while Nardi failed to match that. The final score was 3-6 7-6(7) 6-2 for Thie as he earned a pretty important win for him after the recent lacklustre results.
He moves on to the next round where he'll play Yannick Hanfmann.
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