How good was Dominic Thiem in the title match of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Sunday? Well, just ask opponent Daniil Medvedev.
“I tried my best, but Dominic was too good,” Medvedev admitted following his 6-4, 6-0 loss. “At one point today, even just getting a point off him was a great achievement.”
That may be a bit of an overstatement, but getting full games was–in fact–an almost impossible proposition for the Russian throughout the last hour of this final. He won only one of the last 13 games, seeing a 3-0 lead in the opening set evaporate into a straight-set defeat.
It was hardly Medvedev’s own fault. The world No. 14 came out blazing hot as Thiem struggled from the back of the court, but the fourth seed quickly found the scintillating form that had carried him to a 6-4, 6-4 semifinal upset of Rafael Nadal on Saturday.
After one hour and 13 minutes of mostly dominant work, Thiem became the first Austrian since Tomas Muster in 1996 to lift the Barcelona trophy.
“Winning this means a lot to me because it’s such a traditional and special tournament,” Thiem said. “Only great players have won here. Rafa has won it 11 times and it means a lot that Muster won it twice. It’s a big moment for me.
“A title like this always gives you a lot of confidence, so I’ll be in a good mood going into Madrid. But the special thing about tennis is that I’ll start from zero in Madrid/ All the guys there are really strong, so I’ll need to be ready from the first point.”
A pair of 250 tournaments in Estoril and Munich are on the schedule this week before Masters 1000 action resumes in Madrid. Thiem’s 2019 haul already featured his first-ever Masters title in Indian Wells now includes 500 points from his Barcelona triumph.
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Thiem may be the man to beat at RG.
It looks that way at this point to me.
Likely.At least he’s proved himself in BO5 matches .