A local hero enchants Thiem and all of Rome

The 26-year-old from Turin won a marathon match against Thiem after 3:25 hours 6:4, 6:7(5), 7:6(5). While Sonego celebrated one of the biggest wins of his career, it was a setback for Thiem after reaching the semi-finals of his comeback tournament in Madrid last week.

The unseeded Sonego played well in front of the initially well-filled stands of the Center Court after the first duel between these two in Kitzbühel in 2019 - i.e. on Austrian soil - went to Thiem. He also won the title back then. Should that now be the world number 33. If he could do it in front of his own fans, that would be a huge surprise. In any case, Sonego scored a number of magical strikes against Thiem, with which he thrilled his compatriots and pushed Thiem onto the defensive. Interruption due to curfew In the fifth game of the first set, the 26-year-old from Turin missed three break points, but used the second chance on Thiem's next service game to take a 4-3 lead. Lorenzo didn't give up this bonus anymore, he fended off Thiem's chance for the rebreak at 5:4 and served with an ace to take the set lead 1-0. In the second round, at 2:2, Thiem missed two opportunities to take the service from his opponent; at 4:4 and 5:5, Thiem fended off break chances.

Dominic Thiem had to give up. © ANSA / ETTORE FERRARI

In the following game, which lasted almost ten minutes, Austria's number one was close to equalizing the set, but Sonego saved himself in the tiebreak. Thiem, of course, stayed on the trigger and brought the score level. Due to the nighttime curfew, there was an interruption of almost half an hour as the spectators had to leave the facility. The supposed disadvantage for Sonego turned out not to be such. So he now meets the Russian Andrey Rublev. Sonego fends off match point and then celebrates himself The northern Italian made it 2-0 with a break in the third set, but then apparently fell on the losing road when Thiem made it 4-2 with two breaks. But Sonego stuck with it, fended off a match point and managed the rebreak to make it 5:5. It went to the tiebreak again, in which Thiem equalized to 5:5 with two fantastic backhand points. On his own serve, however, he gave his opponent his first match point with a volley into the net, which he also used to celebrate his victory.

It is Sonego's second success against a top ten man after the one last October in the Vienna Stadthalle in the quarterfinals against a listless Novak Djokovic. Thiem, in turn, missed his third Rome quarter-final after those in 2016 and then again in 2017, when he even went to the semi-finals. After his opening defeats in 2018 and 2019, he at least managed to win another match in the “Eternal City” with a three-set win on Tuesday against the Hungarian Marton Fucsovics. Nadal meets Zverev Rafael Nadal had to fight hard in the late afternoon before defeating Canadian Denis Shapovalov in the tiebreak of set three after defending two set points. There he will face Alexander Zverev (GER) in a new edition of the Madrid quarter-finals. Djokovic will also play against Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) and Federico Delbonis (ARG) against Reilly Opelka (USA).

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A local hero enchants Thiem and all of Rome

Lorenzo Sonego is putting on a big show at the Masters tournament in Rome and has now knocked Dominic Thiem out of the competition in the round of 16.

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