On the back of the comeback win, Thiem will now take on local favourite Lorenzo Sonego in the next round.
Dominic Thiem was within two points of suffering his third successive opening-round defeat at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. He held his nerve and saw out the second-set tie-breaker to eventually register an impressive win in Rome. The fourth-seeded Austrian defeated Marton Fucsovics of Hungary 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-0 in two hours and 33 minutes. Thiem had earlier lost his opening matches to Fabio Fognini and Fernando Verdasco in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
“It was such a close match, especially in the second set,” said Thiem. “I knew he’d be a super-tough opponent, particularly coming from different conditions in Madrid. I was fighting all the match and stayed in there. At the end, I got the reward for fighting. I had difficulties with my timing and my serve. I have to hurt my opponent more with my shots. I still won a great match and I will try to improve for tomorrow.”
After taking a mini-break from the sport, he returned to the ATP Tour last week to reach the Mutua Madrid Open semifinals. At 4/5 in the second-set tie-break, Thiem, who was a set and 1-3 down against Fucsovics at one point, produced a beautiful backhand drop shot, and when Fucsovics returned it, he followed it up with a backhand winner. If he’d lost the point, Fucsovics would have had two swings at winning the set and the match.
“In that exact moment, I was just focused to win the next point,” said Thiem about the 4/5 point in the tie-break. “I was down all the time. I lost then first set and then [in the] second [set] I was a break down. [In the] tie-break, I was 4/5 down. So until that point, 5/5, I was down all the match.”
“So I told myself, ‘Well, this is the chance now to go up for the first time in the whole match. It’s also, if I win the point, it’s a chance to win the set’. That’s what went through my mind. Luckily I took it.”
The third set was a formality as he wrapped it up with little difficulty to win the match. Thiem will next play Italian Lorenzo Sonego, who beat compatriot and wild card Gianluca Mager 6-4, 6-4 in a straight forward match.