Stefanos Tsitsipas played a good event in Antwerp last week with a couple of wins, and he started off the 2023 Vienna Open with a solid win over Dominic Thiem.
Tsitsipas hasn't played that well recently, however, he found something in Antwerp last week, winning a couple of matches. He won both in singles and doubles as he played together with his brother.
They actually won the trophy, the first time they won a doubles trophy together. It was a short turnaround to Vienna as he only had one spare day in between his matches, and the opponent was Dominic Thiem.
Taking on the Austrian on native soil is difficult, but Tsitsipas handled it as well as you could. The opening set was very close, which was expected. Both players held their serves easily, as neither faced a single break point in the entire set.
The tie-break was also close, but Tsitsipas was a bit more solid, and that was enough for him to win it 7-5. The crucial thing for Tsitsipas ended up being the serve.
He has a better serve, and it came really handy in such a close match. It's also not the first time that Tsitsipas used his serve against Thiem, who had issues with it in the past.
The second set was a bit easier as Tsitsipas took an early lead, which almost became a double-break lead a bit later, but Thiem held on. Thiem opted for a more aggressive approach, which was the right call, but he didn't quite pick his spots well.
He had three break points in the second set but converted neither. Tsitsipas had four and converted one, and that's the difference. Indoor tennis is brutal like that as chances are scarce, and if you don't use it, you're in trouble.
Tsitsipas finished it off 7-6(5) 6-4 behind 9 aces and 30 winners in total. It was a solid effort from Thiem but simply not good enough.
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