By Chris Oddo | Monday June 18, 2018
A pair of former Halle semifinalists rolled into Round 2 on opening day at the Gerry Weber Open as Dominic Thiem and Kei Nishikori both booked straight-set wins.
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Thiem’s journey was the more arduous won as the Austrian went off the rails later in the first set and had to rescue himself from trouble. The Austrian failed to connect on two set points at 5-4 in the first, and his opponent, Russia's Mikhail Youzhny, rebounded to break on his third break point to level at 5-all.
35-year-old Youzhny would hold and earn a set point of his own with Thiem serving at 5-6, 30-40, but the Austrian saved it with a forehand winner. Thiem’s 23rd unforced error of the set gave Youzhny a look at a second set point but back-to-back aces and a service winner from the 24-year-old brought the pair to a tiebreaker.
Thiem rallied from 5-4 down to take the tiebreaker before seeing the trainer and having his left leg taped firmly above the knee.
If he was injured he didn’t show it in the second set. The Austrian played much better tennis and finally took control, winning the final three games to clinch victory in one hour and 37 minutes.
Seventh-seeded Nishikori, a two-time finalist (2014, 2015) at Halle, had a similar scoreline but took a slightly less scenic route.
Nishikori took out German qualifier Matthias Bachinger, 6-3, 7-6(3) in one hour and 23 minutes. Nishikori was pushed by the 31-year-old in the second set and came away relieved to be through in straights.
“I think I played very solid this match today. He’s never an easy player, especially I think on grass, he can be dangerous. He was coming to the net really well and if he got that second set... you never know what is going to happen in the third,” Nishikori said.
Thiem will face Japan’s Yuichi Sugita next, while Nishikori will face the winner of tomorrow’s battle between Mischa Zverev and Karen Khachanov.