By Chris Oddo | Tuesday, May 6, 2014
20-year-old Dominic Thiem notched his first career top ten win with a stunning upset of Stan Wawrinka on Tuesday night in Madrid.
Photo Source: Clive Brunskill/Getty
Dominic Thiem and his grooved, muscular game have been turning heads all season. After Tuesday night's jaw-dropping shut down of world No. 3 Stan Wawrinka in Madrid, a few necks might be sore.
Video: Fognini Steps over the Line Yet Again
The 20-year-old Austrian notched his first top 10 victory over Stan Wawrinka in the night session at the Mutua Madrid Masters with a poised, powerful 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 triumph. The victory, like Thiem's near miss against Andy Murray in Rotterdam in February, drew rave reviews from pundits on Twitter, and pushed the Austrian's name deeper into the “next big thing” debate.
Wawrinka, a finalist at Madrid last year, was among those impressed by Thiem's breakout performance. “He's a good player,” said Wawrinka. “We all know that. We all see that, especially since the beginning of the year. Today he was playing good. He was going for it and he deserved to win.”
Thiem, to his credit, has done things the hard way in 2014, qualifying for seven tournaments, which is most on the ATP Tour and more than any player managed through all of 2013. His 17-1 record in qualifying, and the confidence that comes from winning those matches, is a big reason that the Austrian was able to impose his confident, aggressive game against one of the world's hottest players on Tuesday.
“I made seven out of eight quallies, and the qually matches, they help a lot," Thiem said. “I get used to the level of the top 100 guys, and I think I had this year already 35 matches. That's the most important.”
Still, Thiem couldn't help but be surprised that he was able to take down Wawrinka the way he did, taking the play to him for the better part of the final two sets, and claiming the crucial break when it mattered in the match's final game to seal the upset. “Honestly, no,” he told reporters. “I cannot really believe it. I was in this famous zone during the match. I was really unbelievable concentrated.”
Theim, who owns a 15-15 record in 30 career tour-level matches, will face either Feliciano Lopez or Mikhail Youzhny in the third round. If he can play lights-out like he did today, the 20-year-old could find himself in the quarterfinals in his Madrid debut.
Playing such composed, assertive tennis while simultaneously being the youngest player in the ATP's top 100, has many believing that Thiem can become a serious tour de force on the ATP Tour someday. Maybe someday soon... Here's a snippet or two of the praise that was heaped on Thiem on Twitter after his victory today.