Dominic Thiem recorded his second win of the 2023 season when he defeated Sebastian Ofner at the Estoril Open.
The two Austrians know each other well and the 2020 US Open champion acknowledged it before their meeting. In the past, they met twice on the ATP Tour and both matches happened on the clay-courts in Kitzbuhel and Thiem emerged victorious on both occasions.
This time, the situation was much different. Thiem struggles with his form in 2023 and he won only one of the ten matches that he played. On the other hand, Ofner qualified for the main draw of the Estoril Open, and a few weeks ago, he had a championship point to win a Challenger event in Zadar.
But Thiem was determined to use all of his experience to get back to winning ways. However, he had a terrible start to the match. Ofner broke his serve twice and at 5-1, he was serving for the first set.
For a moment it seemed that the former world no. 3 will be able to come back. Thiem took broke back once and in the ninth game, he had four more break points. But Ofner eventually served out the first set, winning it 6-3.
Things went from bad to worse at the start of the second set for Thiem. He was broken again and his opponent had everything necessary to win the match. But Thiem fought back, he broke back and added one more break to win the second set 6-3 and force a decider.
In the first set, Thiem earned a two-break advantage early on, and although he lost one break later, he kept his advantage throughout the set to win the match 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and six minutes.
Up next, the Austrian will take on Ben Shelton who defeated Constant Lestienne earlier on the day.
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