Former world No. 3 Dominic Thiem couldn’t hide his happiness after ending his losing streak on the main level and clinching his first ATP victory in 14 months. On Tuesday, Thiem recovered from a set down to beat Emil Ruusuvuori 3-6 6-1 7-6 (5) in the Bastad first round.
Thiem, who sustained a wrist injury at the Mallorca Open last June, was sidelined for nine months before returning to action in late March. Prior to Bastad, Thiem was 0-6 on the main level this year. “It’s a long time,” Thiem said in his on-court interview, per the ATP website.
“My last victory was in Rome in 2021, it feels like a different world somehow. Many, many things happened. It was tough, but it was also a very good experience, I think, for life in general. I’m so happy that I got this first victory here today”.
Thiem: I didn’t start well and it was a tough battle
“It was a very difficult match,” said Thiem. “I didn’t have a very good start and then I fought really well, but I had a really tough period with many losses and not many wins, so it was really difficult for me to close out the match.
Even though I played pretty good in the second and third sets. I have to control the nerves a little bit better, especially when it gets to the end”. Thiem made a slow start to the match as Ruusuvuori broke the Austrian twice in the first set to seal the opener.
After losing the first set, Thiem faced three consecutive break points in the third game of the second set but saved them all to take a 2-1 lead. Ruusuvuori collapsed after blowing three consecutive break points as Thiem broke the Finn in the fourth and sixth games to force a decider.
After losing the last five games of the second set, Ruusuvuori won the opening three games of the third set. However, Thiem was able to recover and force a tie-break – in which the two players were tied to five points apiece before the Austrian won two points in a row to seal a three-set win and to set up a Roberto Bautista Agut meeting.
