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Dominic Thiem of Austria beat seventh seed Hugo Gaston of France 1-6, 6-1, 7-6(7) in the first round of the Swiss Open at Gstaad on Tuesday. The match lasted for two hours.
It was an important victory for the 28-year-old, who is on a comeback trail after a prolonged lay-off due to a wrist injury. However, he had to battle hard to register the win.
On that note, let’s take a look at three factors that stood out in the match:
#1 Hugo Gaston was off to a breezy start and won the first set convincingly:
Gaston raced off the blocks by winning the first five games of the match. He broke Thiem in the second and fourth games of the first set as the Austrian struggled to deal with the Frenchman’s powerful forehand. Thiem also committed a few double faults to make Gaston’s job easier.
Thiem then managed to win his first game of the match to reduce the deficit to 1-5. However, Gaston then served out the first set easily to draw first blood. The Frenchman played quite a few drop shots in the first set to drag Thiem into the net repeatedly.
#2 Dominic Thiem returned the favor in the second set by winning it with ease:
Thiem managed to turn the table convincingly in the second set by taking the attack to his opponent. The former US Open champion hit a number of wonderful winners off his forehand to draw level. Gaston kept playing his forehand with enough power, but Thiem defended very well.
Dominic Thiem broke Gaston in the fourth and sixth games of the second set and never failed to hold his serve. He also hit a few aces to put pressure on the Frenchman. Gaston played drop shots in the second set, too, but Thiem was often able to pre-empt them and chase the ball down.
#3 It was a tough battle in the third set, but Dominic Thiem prevailed in the end:
The third and final set was a closely-fought one, and both players fought well. Neither of the players lost serve in the third set, and the set went into a tiebreak as a result.
The tiebreak was a topsy-turvy affair as Gaston raced to a 4-2 lead, but Thiem fought back to level the score at 7-7. The Austrian then ensured the win as Gaston failed while attempting a serve-and-volley.
Thiem fired four aces, including one in the tiebreak in the third set. The Austrian ended with seven aces. However, his first serve ratio remained at a moderate 55%. Gaston, meanwhile, could only win 46% of the points on his second serve in the match. Thiem won 37% of the points in his return games, while Gaston managed only 32%.
