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| French Open: Pablo Andujar upsets Dominic Thiem in a dramatic encounter |
It first seemed that Andujar's win against 20-time Grand
Slam winner Roger Federer in Geneva earlier this month would count for nothing.
But Austrian Thiem's game began to unravel after a dominant start on court
Philippe Chatrier. Thiem, who reached the final in Paris in 2018 and 2019, had
never lost in the opening round at Roland Garros, but that prospect grew as
Andujar went for his shots and unsettled his 27-year-old opponent.
Thiem broke back after conceding a break in the first game
of the decider, but Andujar kept on piling up the pressure with deep strokes
and broke again for 3-2.
The 35-year-old, ranked 68th in the world, then held serve
throughout to claim victory after nearly four-and-a-half hours after Thiem made
a total of 66 unforced errors.
Thiem, who took a break to 'reset his game' earlier this
season and also battled injuries, entered the tournament short of confidence
and Sunday's clash with Andujar showed he had yet to rediscover his touch even
though he had reached the semi-finals at the Madrid Masters this month.
"I was not struggling at all with my motivation but the
game was just not there today," he said.
"Like all the shots are missing power. They are not
accurate enough. I'm moving not well enough, so everything in my game there are
some percents missing."
Andujar, on the other hand, was on a roll after beating
Federer on the Geneva clay.
"I believed in myself because I played well (against
Federer) two weeks ago. Usually being drawn against Thiem is a bad draw,"
the Spaniard said.
"Winning today against a player like him is like a
gift, even if he has not been at his best recently, because I'm 35 and I don't
know how long I'm going to be playing for.
"Beating Roger was an even bigger gift. I feel like Father
Christmas came to my home."