ATP Tournament in Kitzbühel, Quarterfinals, Thursday, 28.07.2022
Germany vs Austria – who will make it to the semi-finals at the ATP Tournament in Kitzbühel? Dominic Thiem continues his upward trend on home soil, although it didn’t come without a hitch.
On Thursday he will fight for the second semifinal within a few days, and that against a player who is quite lucky at this tournament. In my Thiem Hanfmann tip, however, I reveal why I would definitely bet on a close match!
His fans suffered with him for months, now they can finally cheer together again. Dominic Thiem’s eternal ordeal, we’ve analysed it several times on Betting Friends.
But now we’d rather concentrate on the positive developments, and there are quite a few in his case. Recently, he has been getting stronger and stronger, as evidenced by the semi-final he reached in Gstaad.
There he was shown the limits by Matteo Berrettini, but he was also a man from the absolute world class. So that’s where Thiem definitely wants to go again, not for nothing was he once ranked third.
At home in Kitzbühel, where the 28-year-old won the tournament in 2019, he wants to present himself to his fans and go far again. The chances of reaching the semi-finals again are now quite good.
Thiem entered the tournament with a very confident 6-4, 6-2 win over Alexander Shevchenko, and was quite lucky that it did not go against the actual draw Richard Gasquet. However, it did not go as smoothly in the last 16.
Sebastian Ofner, his compatriot, proved to be a surprisingly tough nut to crack. In the end, Thiem won 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 and once again had the certainty: “Even in difficult situations, I can now keep my nerve again.
He allowed Wiener eight break chances, against Shevchenko before it had been only one. It will now be the first time that he will duel with Yannick Hanfmann. Although the latter is 59 places ahead of him in the world rankings, he is listed as an underdog.
The German betting companies offer odds of 1.25 to 3.75, and the confidence in Thiem is growing more and more. Hanfmann and Kitzbühel, that is a particularly funny story this year.
In the 1st round, the score was 6-4, 1-1 against Gerald Melzer when the Austrian had to retire stricken. Tough, because the match had been more than evenly contested up to that point.
Hanfmann then played a real thriller against Ivan Gachov, defeating the Russian 6-3, 6-7, 6-4. Actually, the duel against Tallon Griekspoor, a very strong Dutchman, was on the agenda.
Seeded sixth, he had to withdraw due to illness. With all due respect to Dominic Thiem, he would have been a much tougher draw. One opponent retires during the match, the other before, when did the German run out of luck?
He will not have forgotten what is possible at this tournament. Two years ago, he played his way to the final, losing the final 4-6, 4-6 to Miomir Kecmanovic. A great success for the then qualifier.
He already made a stable impression a few days ago in Gstaad. A straightforward win against Cristian Garin was strong, unfortunately he failed in the following 6-7, 6-7 against Nicolas Jerry due to a lack of match luck.
My Thiem Hanfmann Tip
It shouldn’t be easy for Dominic Thiem to put Yannick Hanfmann in his place on Thursday. The win against Sebastian Ofner took energy, the service didn’t come as desired.
Of course, his performance has improved a lot, but he has to go one step further in the quarter-finals. Hanfmann, as my analysis showed, is in pretty good shape. Since both are desperate to progress, I’ll give the following tip:
We see more than 21.5 Games!
