It had been 49 days since Dominic Thiem’s last ATP match and on Tuesday he needed less than one hour to seal his ticket to the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open against Marcos Giron.
The Austrian, who had not competed since Dubai in March, produced a convincing win in his Caja Mágica opener, losing just four games against the American (6-1, 6-3) to conclude a convincing return to action.
On Thursday, the two-time #MMOPEN finalist will be bidding for a place in the quarters, a round he has reached in each of his last three appearances, against the Australian Alex de Miñaur
In his first appearance in this year’s European clay swing, Thiem is focused on gradually rediscovering the game that has made him a frequent favourite for the title in the Spanish capital.
???@ThiemDomi | #MMOPEN
? @TennisTV pic.twitter.com/x7LrNhy1Yc
— #MMOPEN (@MutuaMadridOpen) May 4, 2021
The Vienna native admitted to feeling that “there were some things which I think made it a little bit easier, the match, after such a long time, especially the conditions in Madrid, which are great for me”.
The 27-year-old said that at the Madrid ATP Masters 1000 he has “amazing memories on this court where I already played probably some of the best matches of my career”.
In 2017, he reached his first final in the Manolo Santana Stadium, where he lost to Rafael Nadal (7-6 (8), 6-4). A year later, he would have his revenge on the Spaniard in the quarters but it would be Alexander Zverev’s turn to deprive him of the title (6-4, 6-4).
In the last edition of the #MMOPEN in 2019, he produced a stunning comeback against Roger Federer (3-6, 7-6 (11), 6-4) but was unable to reach his third final on the trot after losing to Novak Djokovic in two tiebreaks.
