Dominic Thiem will take on mercurial Aussie Nick Kyrgios in Friday’s featured third-round match at the Australian Open. Another all-seeded encounter will see Pablo Carreno Busta and Grigor Dimitrov in action.
(3) Dominic Thiem vs. Nick Kyrgios
U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem has consistently been in the top 10 since 2016, which makes it surprising that he and third-round opponent Nick Kyrgios have only played once. That was way back in 2015 on the clay courts of Nice, where Kyrgios retired after seven games. This clash has been a long time coming.
In many ways this is a study in contrasting personalities and styles, of consistency vs. flash. Thiem has a beautiful textbook one-handed backhand. He is a hardworking, fit, and a natural clay-courter who learned how to adapt his game to win on hard courts. Kyrgios is none of those things. The Aussie has a monster game which, when unleashed, can dismantle any opponent–quite literally. Novak Djokovic has played Kyrgios twice and hasn’t taken a set.
The problem for Kyrgios is that he is unable to produce good results with any consistency. And he doesn’t just play poorly, he also has well-documented meltdowns. The world No. 47 deliberately lost a match against Karen Khachanov in Cincinnati in 2019 because he was mad at chair umpire Fergus Murphy, with whom he regularly feuds.
There is little doubt that Thiem is the favorite. He made the final in 2020 and he won the U.S. Open last fall. He knows how to put seven best-of-five matches together, and he has plenty of experience playing on the big stage. Kyrgios might delight the crowd in Oz by taking a set, but Thiem is too consistent and he’s big enough and strong enough not to get hit off the court.
Cheryl pick: Thiem in 4
Ricky pick: Thiem in 4
(18) Grigor Dimitrov vs. (16) Pablo Carreno Busta
Another potential Friday blockbuster is the showdown between Grigor Dimitrov and Pablo Carreno Busta. The two men have met six times since 2014, and they have split wins at three each. Dimitrov won both of the their hard-court matches, but Carreno Busta is no dirt-baller–contrary to what many (Kyrgios included) believe. The Spaniard grew up playing on hard courts and his posted his best results there.
Dimitrov has found some of the form that saw him to No. 3 in the world back in 2017. The Bulgarian had a good 2020 season. He didn’t have any titles or finals but went 18-11 and made his way to the semis in Acapulco and Antwerp.
Carreno Busta had a monster 2020 season. The Spaniard made the semifinals at the U.S. Open then the quarters at the French. Based on form alone, the slight edge goes to Carreno Busta. The Spaniard has also proven that he has what it takes at the big tournaments.
Cheryl pick: Carreno Busta in 5
Ricky pick: Carreno Busta in 4
WWW?
Carreno Busta in 5. It’s close, almost 50/50 between 4 or 5 sets with a clear bias towards PCB.
Thiem in 4 (maybe 3)
A combination of the crowd and the fast service should allow Kyrgios to snatch a set.
Thiem in 3; Dtrov in an entertaining 4.
Massive choke by Opelka
PCB in 5,slight advantage
Dimitrov wins first 7 games in a row (including a break in the 2nd). PCB retires.
Disappointing result.
Thiem in 4, although it might be 5. Depends on when Kyrgios runs out of steam. Nick certainly has the game and the motivation to win this one and the conditions are perfect for him. However he must be tired playing a tough 5-setter after such a long break.
Do you believe this. Kyrgios serving to go 2-0
Now we know why Djokovic said I respect him on the court, not off the court. It was probably to motivate him to take out Thiem.
The data indicated Kyrgios didn’t have a strong chance of winning this match. It was either 3-1 or 3-0
Thiem won in 5 after dropping the first two sets! Thank goodness! Kyrgios’ fans are so horrible. It was like – Thiem doublefaults, crowd goes wild, the whole match. The clueless McEnroe bros loved it, of course. And so obvious that Kyrgios was a spoiler, nothing more. No way he was going to last through the tournament.
Too bad about PCB. He seems to have a lot of ab problems?
Exactly, just there to try and spoil the party and exercise his ego. That’s all he does.
They are horrible. Kyrgios is horrible also.
Thiem will be a lot stronger player mentally after that. terrific effort to come back from 2- with all that against you.
Looks like Dom’s chances of winning whole thing are going way up with this and Nole’s injury. (And Rafa’s).
I think so but he won’t want too many more 5-setters.
Zverev may actually be a worse matchup for Thiem than Djokovic at this moment and on this faster court. And Dominic needs to beat Dimitrov first. The Bulgarian will also be advantaged by this kind of surface and it wouldn’t be the first year when he plays well at AO.
It wouldn’t be the first time when Thiem reaches a major final just to lose it because he’s exhausted. He won USO last year by reaching the final well rested and he still barely squeezed by a much more tired Zverev.
Anyway the whole thing looks like a Russian roulette: because the pandemic messed out everything for tennis, anyone can get injured at any time.
I see Nole is up a break now. But if he is carrying an injury he won’t make the final..
DOMINIC!
So cool under pressure. So cool waiting for his game to click. The conditions got cooler too, which helped!
Medvedev is playing well. Another cool customer.