Early exit in Vienna

Dominic Thiem against Luciano Darderi LIVE today

Dominic Thiem lost his first round match at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna against the Italian Luciano Darderi after 1:32 hours 6:7(6), 2:6.

(Bild: Urbantschitsch Mario/Mario Urbantschitsch)

Dominic Thiem's last fight went unrewarded! The 31-year-old from Lower Austria, once number three in the world, lost his first round match against the favored Italian Luciano Darderi (ATP-42nd) in front of 9,800 fans in the Wiener Stadthalle on Tuesday evening. Thiem had a very good performance in the first set, missed a set point in the tiebreak and lost 6:7(6), 2:6 after 1:32 hours.

Even before the first rally, there was the first goosebump moment in the Wiener Stadthalle: the 9600 spectators rose from their seats during the player presentation. Standing ovations for Dominic Thiem - the Center Court shook. It was the start of a real tennis party, with the better end for Luciano Darderi ...

The fans celebrate after a backhand double
But let's start at the beginning. While there was still nothing to be gained from Darderi's serve in the first game, Thiem's first game win was celebrated like a match victory. And the celebrations continued: Thiem unleashed a magical backhand longline twice in a row - bringing back memories of his successful times. "Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole", the fans screamed at the top of their lungs. Thiem then had his first break points in game five, and the Austrian was finally able to convert the fifth. Once again, the backhand was his recipe for success and the fans went completely crazy after Thiem's winner.

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Thiem misses set point, then Darderi strikes
Things got dicey for Thiem for the first time in the eighth game - and the 22-year-old Italian promptly broke back to make it 4:4. After a missed forehand from Thiem, Darderi was back in set number one - everything was completely open. "Domi, Domi, Domi", Thiem was cheered on loudly by the crowd in the German capital. And it came as it had to. An evenly matched first round went into a tie-break. Curious: It began with a foot fault from Darderi, Thiem added an ace and once again a sensational backhand winner to make it 3:0. But it remained exciting and the two players gave each other nothing in the tie-break either. After Thiem missed a set point at 6:5, Darderi took the next three points and consequently the tie-break 8:6. Bitter from the Lower Austrian's point of view, but nothing was lost yet.

You can see what the fans had to say about Dominic Thiem here:

No chance in set two
Set number two didn't start as Thiem had hoped. The 31-year-old conceded a break in the very first game and found himself trailing early on. The crowd immediately tried to cheer him up. But they were unsuccessful, Thiem was unable to build on his performance from the first set and was broken shortly afterwards to go 1:4 down. The 2020 US Open winner never recovered from that. Darderi became a party crasher and ended Thiem's career. One of the all-time greats bid farewell to the tennis circus - and once again the entire hall rose to its feet ...