Spainiard Pablo Carreno Busta on Monday night stopped former men’s singles champion Dominic Thiem on Day 1 of the 2022 US Open. The 31-year-old took down the 2020 tournament winner on Court 17, winning 7-5, 6-1, 5-7, 6-3.
“I think that it was not bad at all the whole match. Probably intensity-wise and shots-wise, the best since Paris. A lot of good things to take from this match.” Thiem said.
“I think everybody who thought that I was the favourite today was far away from reality. Pablo has a great season. He won Montreal. He’s a two-times semifinalist here. I’m just still in the process of coming back.” Thiem added.
Thiem was facing a challenging opponent despite his 7-0 head-to-head record in favour of him. He entered the first set rather impressively when he broke in the first game, giving him a 4-2 lead.
Busta continues to show his dominance at the moment, though. He saved two crucial break points in games 8 and 12, winning 5 out of 6 of them, to close the first set at 7-5.
Taking advantage of the excitement, Carreno Busta quickly finished the second set with a score of 6-1.
On the other side, Thiem also showed a strong fighting spirit in the third set. The fact that Carreno Busta made too many unnecessary personal errors helped Thiem win 3 break points to win 7-5, thereby shortening the score. 1-2 left.
However, the 28-year-old tennis player could not maintain the pressure in the 4th set. The decline in fitness caused Thiem to play poorly and repeatedly foul. Meanwhile, Busta still maintains composure at important moments.
Busta opponent’s serve broke in games 5 and 9 to close the match in set 4 with a score of 6-3. Winning the final after 4 sets, Busta will face Alexander Bublik in the second round.
