Despite his best efforts to win the trophy, Dominic Thiem ultimately proved too tired to seriously challenge Sebastian Baez at the 2023 Kitzbuhel Open.
Baez has been a pretty strong clay player for a while now, winning trophies on the surface and having good results. It's yet to translate to much outside of clay, but he's steadily improving every year, and today was another good showing. The final looked promising on paper, and it was a pretty solid one.
Comeback week for Thiem ultimately didn't ring true in the final. Despite his best effort to deliver another tattoo to his mother(a tattoo for every trophy he wins), Thiem was beaten by a very inspired Baez in the final. It was a good match but lacked intensity from Thiem's side.
It's not a huge surprise considering how much tennis he played this week and the energy he exerted in all of those comebacks. He lost his serve pretty early in the opening set as Baez kept applying heavy pressure. The Argentinian failed to add another break to his tally but he cruised comfortably from there.
Thiem didn't create a single break point in the opening set, and that trend continued in the second set. The forehand was firing on all cylinders for Baez, who didn't have issues setting up his signature shot. An early break in the second set only cemented his confidence for the rest of the match.
In the end, the Argentinian got it done; the final score was 6-3 6-1 for Baez as he wins a second trophy this year and 3rd overall. Obviously, all three trophies were won on clay. The loss for Thiem was a painful one but this was his best outing of the year.
It's a good foundation to build upon as he makes his way to North American where he had some pretty solid results. His lone Grand Slam came in 2020 at the US Open.
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