By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday October 3, 2020
Dominic Thiem likes to dictate on a clay court with his splintering ground strokes and powerful serves and returns. But for much of his 6-4 6-4 5-7 3-6 6-3 victory over French wild card Hugo Gaston, the powerful Austrian was on the end of Gaston’s string in Sunday's final match at Roland Garros.
Gaston let go over fifty drop shots and played a stunning brand of improvisational tennis that often had Thiem on the back foot and on the chase, not knowing what would come next.
“I was happy generally with the focus,” Thiem told reporters after the three hour and 32-minute contest with the 20-year-old on Court Philippe Chatrier. “I think I stayed pretty calm even though it was a tough match mentally, physically.
“I just read before that he played 53 dropshots (actually 58, according to Infosys, the tournament's stat provider). I think only three or four of them went into the net, so I made more than 50 full sprints to the net. So that was really, really tough.”
It was a hotly contested battle all the way through. Thiem finally took the upper hand with a break for 5-3 in the third set, and he held his nerve in the next game, saving a break point at 30-40 and finally closing the match after a second deuce.
“I haven’t seen for a very long time a player with such a big touch in his hands,” Thiem told an enthusiastic crowd after the match. “His drop shots are just from another planet, I was sprinting like 400 times to the net. If he continues like this he’s going to be a huge, huge player, and he’s going to make a lot of joy in this stadium.”
Thiem will move on to face his good friend Diego Schwartzman in the quarterfinals. The Austrian says he’s running a little low on energy after four matches in Paris, but he hopes he’ll bring his best.
“I'm happy of course to face one of my best friends from the tour in the quarterfinals,” Thiem said. “From my perspective, it's all about recovery. I mean, obviously last weeks were tough. I'm not running on a full tank anymore. That's for sure. So I try to recover as good as I can. If I'm able to do that, it's going to be an exciting match.”
It was an incredible effort for a player ranked 239. Gaston had never won a match at a major before, but he took three victories in Paris, including one over Stan Wawrinka in the third round.
“Obviously, a little disappointment but a lot of pride,” he told reporters in French after the match. “I persisted in the fifth against Dominic who is a very good player. I have no regrets, really, I come out of this game with my head held high. I am very happy, the public helped me a lot and pushed me. I want to thank them.
“Playing against great players always makes you grow. I'm gaining experience. I'm very happy to have played against Dominic on Chatrier. I gave everything.”