Dominic Thiem has recovered his spirits in Madrid. The Austrian, who had not played since March 16 due to knee problems, is already in Mutua quarterfinals after winning a certain slack in the two games they have played. This Thursday, in the second round, he beat Alex de Miñaur in two sets (7-6 (6) and 6-4) who he had already surpassed in his three previous matches. A balm for Thiem at the start of his gravel season that can give him confidence ahead of Roland Garros.
Against the 22-year-old Australian and 24th in the world, Dom suffered in the first set in which he had to overcome the break that Alex placed for him. and resolve the ballot in a tough tiebreaker. The second set he controlled from the beginning and then he knew how to react when the Aussie equalized the break of the third game. This Friday he will face the winner of the duel between the American John Isner and the Russian Andrey Rublev.
Bublik stops Karatsev
The big surprise in the morning was given by the Kazakh Alexander Bublik, who beat Russian Aslan Karatsev, semifinalist at the last Australian Open, 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and 14 minutes.
Bublik was very solid on serve (14 aces and 79% of points won with the first serve) and also managed to save 7 of the 8 break balls he faced against a Karatsev who barely won 60% of points with his serve, which ended up costing him the game.
The Kazakh already expects rival in the quarterfinals, which will come out of the match between the Norwegian Casper Ruud and the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, fourth favorite to the title.
Results, table and calendar.