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Fixture: (4) Stefanos Tsitsipas vs (WC) Dominic Thiem
Date: April 29, 2023
Tournament: Madrid Masters 2023
Round: Second Round (Round of 64)
Venue: Caja Magica, Madrid, Spain
Category: Masters 1000
Surface: Outdoor clay
Prize money: €7,705,780
Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Amazon Prime Video
Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Dominic Thiem preview
World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas will clash with 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem in the second round of the 2023 Madrid Open on Saturday.
Tsitsipas' clay season commenced at the Monte-Carlo Masters, where he was the two-time defending champion. He didn't have much to do against Benjamin Bonzi as the Frenchman retired halfway through the first set due to an injury. The Greek then eased past Nicholas Jarry to reach the last eight.
Up against American Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals, Tsitsipas lost in straight sets. He next competed in the Barcelona Open, where he had finished as the runner-up twice in the past. He defeated Pedro Cachin, Denis Shapovalov, Alex de Minaur and Lorenzo Musetti to reach his third final at the venue.
Tsitsipas faced Carlos Alcaraz in the championship round, but was no match for the teenager as he lost in straight sets. He received a first-round bye in Madrid and is a former finalist in the Spanish capital as well.
Thiem took on Kyle Edmund in the first round here. The Austrian erased a couple of break points he faced early on in the opening set, before breaking his opponent's serve in the ninth game to go 5-4 up.
Thiem then served out the set with ease to put himself in the lead. The second set was quite one-sided. After an initial hold of serve by Edmund, the former US Open champion bagged the next six games to win the match 6-4, 6-1.
Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Dominic Thiem head-to-head
Thiem leads Tsitsipas 5-3 in the head-to-head. He won their previous encounter at the 2020 ATP Finals in three sets.
Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Dominic Thiem odds
(Odds are sourced from BetMGM)
Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Dominic Thiem prediction
After a rough start to the year, Thiem's campaign has picked up some steam during the clay swing. He played quite well against Edmund in the first round. He won 83% of his first serve points, while blasting 19 winners, compared to nine unforced errors.
Thiem's forehand worked quite well and he was able to dominate the proceedings with it.
Tsitsipas has been in decent form himself over the past couple of weeks. However, he has been quite vulnerable with respect to his backhand, a weakness which has been exploited by his fellow players for a while now.
At his best, Thiem had a compelling rivalry against the Greek. Half of their eight meetings required a deciding set. Despite the Austrian's marginal improvements, he's yet to defeat a top-10 player since his comeback.
While Thiem's capable of putting up a fight, Tsitsipas should be able to overcome the former US Open champion to advance further.
Pick: Stefanos Tsitsipas to win in straight sets.
