Andy Murray and Dominic Thiem will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers when they square off in the semifinals of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Saturday. Both of their previous encounters have gone Murray’s way in deciding sets. He prevailed 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 on the indoor hard courts of Rotterdam in 2014 and 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 at the 2015 Miami Masters.
Fast forward to 2017 and Thiem is a much more dangerous opponent now–especially on clay. The 23-year-old is up to No. 9 in the rankings, played in the World Tour Finals last fall, and is a French Open semifinalist (2016). Theim overworked himself last season and has been similarly up-and-down this year, but he has still played well enough to be seventh in the race to London (third if he wins the Barcelona title). So far this week he has advanced with straight-set victories over Kyle Edmund, Dan Evans, and Yuichi Sugita.
“Today was my best match,” Thiem said after blasting Sugita 6-1, 6-2 on Friday. “I was very focused and aggressive from the beginning. I knew he was in great shape after beating three great players before me. My game-plan was to take him out of his comfort zone. I sliced a lot and tried to play with high spin.”
With just a single match win since early March prior to arriving in Barcelona, Murray is in dire need of a successful week. Following a first-round bye and a walkover from Bernard Tomic, the top-ranked Scot took care of Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-4 but almost lost to Albert Ramos-Vinolas on Friday. Ramos-Vinolas, who beat Murray in Monte-Carlo and finished runner-up to Rafael Nadal, served for the match at 5-4 in the third set but ended up losing 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(4).
Of course, Murray will have to do a lot more than beat Lopez, Ramos-Vinolas, and Gilles Muller (in Monte-Carlo) to prove he is even coming close to the level that was on display last fall. He has defeated only one top 10 player this year (Tomas Berdych in Doha) and no one in the current top 12. Since beating Berdych he has lost to Ramos-Vinolas, Mischa Zverev (Australian Open), and Vasek Pospisil (Indian Wells).
Thiem is more confident than Murray right now and is moving better on this surface. The fourth seed should be able to keep Murray off balance with his heavy kick serve and variety off the ground–topspin forehand and flat one-hander off the backhand side. The world No. 1’s slump is more likely to end on grass or a hard court than it is against Thiem on clay.
Pick: Thiem in 3
[polldaddy poll=9734953]
Leave a Reply