Generali Open 2018 , Kitzbuhel, Austria, ATP 250

[britbox]

DATE: Jul 30 to Aug 4 2018
SURFACE: Clay
PRIZE MONEY: €501,345
FIELD SIZE: 28
DEFENDING CHAMPION: Philipp Kohlschreiber

Seeds:

1 THIEM, Dominic
2 KOHLSCHREIBER, Philipp
3 VERDASCO, Fernando
4 HAASE, Robin
5 SIMON, Gilles
6 MARTERER, Maximilian
7 STRUFF, Jan-Lennard
8 LAJOVIC, Dusan

The Tournament:

The Austrian Open Kitzbuhel, (formally known as the Generali Open Kitzbuhel,) is an annual tennis tournament held in Kitzbuhel,, Austria. The event was part of the ATP World Series from the creation of ATP World Tour till 1998, International Series Gold from 1999-2008 and ATP World Tour 250 series in 2009. It was a part of the ATP Challenger Tour in 2010 before regaining top tour status. It is once again part of the 250 series. The tournament has been held, since 1894, on clay courts. Src: Wiki

About Kitzbuhel

Kitzbuhel is a small medieval town situated along the river Kitzbuhler Ache in Tyrol, Austria and the administrative centre of the Kitzbuhel district (Bezirk). It has a population of just over 8,000. The town is situated in the Kitzbuhel Alps about 100 kilometres (62 mi) east of the state capital of Innsbruck. It is a ski resort of international renown.

Valerii Tkachenko / Wikimedia

Msedwick / Wikimedia

Tourism Guide:

 

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The Draw:

 

[britbox]

1st Round

Dennis Novak (AUT) beat Jurij Rodionov (AUT) 6-4 0-6 6-1
8-Dusan Lajovic (SRB) beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4 6-2
Jaume Munar (ESP) beat Yannick Hanfmann (GER) 2-6 7-6(5) 6-1
Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) beat Corentin Moutet (FRA) 4-6 6-3 6-4
Denis Istomin (UZB) beat Federico Delbonis (ARG) 7-6(5) 6-2

 

[britbox]

1st Round

Martin Klizan (SVK) beat Sebastian Ofner (AUT) 6-2 6-4
Laslo Djere (SRB) beat Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) 6-3 6-3
Taro Daniel (JPN) beat 7-Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 7-6(3) 6-1
Matteo Berrettini (ITA) beat 5-Gilles Simon (FRA) 1-6 6-3 6-4
Radu Albot (MDA) beat Jozef Kovalik (SVK) 6-1 6-3
Nicolas Jarry (CHI) beat Roberto Carballes Baena 7-6(3) 6-7(5) 6-4
6-Maximilian Marterer beat Jurgen Zopp (EST) 6-4 3-6 6-3

No momentum here for Basilashvili after winning last week. First round casualty. The reverse with Berrettini - sees off the fifth seeded Gilles Simon.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

After being a RG finalist, Thiem lost Hamburg. Now, he is the #1 seed in a home tourney on clay. If he loses this one too, I would recommend that he commit suicide.

 

[herios]

Domi is fed a Slovakian baguette.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Domi is fed a Slovakian baguette.

Thiem gives the baguette back.

 

[herios]

A few upsets here today:

Kohlschreiber beaten by Istomin
Verdasco by Jarry
Haase by Munar

 

[herios]

After being a RG finalist, Thiem lost Hamburg. Now, he is the #1 seed in a home tourney on clay. If he loses this one too, I would recommend that he commit suicide.

Hoping he does not commit suicide...

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Boy, this is embarrassing. He loses the very first match on clay in his home country in a ATP250 tourney to a qualifier. That is quintuple whammy.

p.s. They should actually remove him from the list of those with puncher's chance to win USO instead of giving him 3% chance.

 

[herios]

6 of the seeds have fallen in the first two rounds.
The highest ranked players left are Marterer and Lajovic

 

[Moxie]

A few upsets here today:

Kohlschreiber beaten by Istomin
Verdasco by Jarry
Haase by Munar

I actually picked Jarry and Munar in my draw. Munar is coming along nicely, and it's clay. Jarry has displayed some very good form this year and I've taken a chance on him. Istomin would have been a coin-flip, but they hadn't filled in the qualifiers. Don't forget he's the guy that upset Djokovic at AO last year. He's a dangerous floater, due to injuries, and Kohly's stock is on the downslide. I get that they're upsets, but they all make a certain sense. Not shockers.

 

[Chris Koziarz]

Austrian upset of the year. Hometown hero (& second best surface expert after Nadal) Thiem, beaten on his own soil by top-100 outsider Klizan 61 16 75.
I started noticing the obvious pattern here. Thiem is a male equivalent of Australian player Samantha Stosur. I mean it with 100% accuracy. Stosur showed some terrific abilities on WTA tour, especially on clay, including a final run in RG (exactly as Thiem), but when she came back to Australia (either to her hometown Brisbane or AO), with loving fans cheering up loud, she played the worst tennis of her life, tanking 1 round matches from 5-1 up in the decider.
Even by funny coincidence the affected country names Austria-Australia are almost identical.
Stosur, with her unpredictable level, won one USO (before tanking AO as I said above) while Thiem has not won a major yet. I know it's unlikely scenario, but what the heck, I wish him to win just one USO in his career and nothing else, just to make me funny 100% right with my absolutely uninformed observation. Anyone else has noticed this Thiem-Stosur striking similarity before me did it?

 

[mrzz]

I love this smaller tournaments threads that don't get hijacked by Fedalovic stuff.

I guess that they had to change the balls on the Jarry/Verdasco match not after every seven/nine games, but after seven/nine points! That probably looked like fast-forwarding a tape sometimes.

Go Lajovic! I will not know who to root for if Lajovic and Jarry play... no, I do know. For the guy with the one handed back hand. I am a racist against two handed backhand people.

 

[Moxie]

Austrian upset of the year. Hometown hero (& second best surface expert after Nadal) Thiem, beaten on his own soil by top-100 outsider Klizan 61 16 75.
I started noticing the obvious pattern here. Thiem is a male equivalent of Australian player Samantha Stosur. I mean it with 100% accuracy. Stosur showed some terrific abilities on WTA tour, especially on clay, including a final run in RG (exactly as Thiem), but when she came back to Australia (either to her hometown Brisbane or AO), with loving fans cheering up loud, she played the worst tennis of her life, tanking 1 round matches from 5-1 up in the decider.
Even by funny coincidence the affected country names Austria-Australia are almost identical.
Stosur, with her unpredictable level, won one USO (before tanking AO as I said above) while Thiem has not won a major yet. I know it's unlikely scenario, but what the heck, I wish him to win just one USO in his career and nothing else, just to make me funny 100% right with my absolutely uninformed observation. Anyone else has noticed this Thiem-Stosur striking similarity before me did it?

Another one who had trouble on home soil was Amelie Mauresmo. For sure Murray had the pressure, but he does have 2 Wimbledons. I don't know if it's local pressure, or if Thiem just can't get over the hump. I know he's had some good clay court results in the last 2 years, but it is hard to see him as the next dominating clay-courter. He's just middle-grade, not great. The next best clay courter is still the player to be named later, if you ask me.

 

[Moxie]

I love this smaller tournaments threads that don't get hijacked by Fedalovic stuff.

I guess that they had to change the balls on the Jarry/Verdasco match not after every seven/nine games, but after seven/nine points! That probably looked like fast-forwarding a tape sometimes.

Go Lajovic! I will not know who to root for if Lajovic and Jarry play... no, I do know. For the guy with the one handed back hand. I am a racist against two handed backhand people.

Betray your own fellow South American for that? You 1HBH people are insufferable.

 

[britbox]

2nd Round

Martin Klizan (SVK) beat 1-Dominic Thiem (AUT) 6-1 1-6 7-5
8-Dusan Lajovic (SRB) beat Dennis Novak (AUT) 6-2 6-4
Jaume Munar (ESP) beat 4-Robin Haase (NED) 7-6(5) 6-4
Taro Daniel (JPN) beat Laslo Djere (SRB) 6-3 6-2
Matteo Berrettini (ITA) beat Radu Albot (MDA) 6-3 6-7(3) 6-1
Nicolas Jarry (CHI) beat 3-Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 6-7(6) 7-5 6-3
6-Maximilian Marterer beat Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) 6-3 6-4
Denis Istomin (UZB) beat 2-Philipp Kohlschreiber 5-7 6-3 6-1

QFs:

Marterer v Istomin
Berrettini v Jarry
Klizan v Lajovic
Munar v Daniel

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Austrian upset of the year. Hometown hero (& second best surface expert after Nadal) Thiem, beaten on his own soil by top-100 outsider Klizan 61 16 75.
I started noticing the obvious pattern here. Thiem is a male equivalent of Australian player Samantha Stosur. I mean it with 100% accuracy. Stosur showed some terrific abilities on WTA tour, especially on clay, including a final run in RG (exactly as Thiem), but when she came back to Australia (either to her hometown Brisbane or AO), with loving fans cheering up loud, she played the worst tennis of her life, tanking 1 round matches from 5-1 up in the decider.
Even by funny coincidence the affected country names Austria-Australia are almost identical.
Stosur, with her unpredictable level, won one USO (before tanking AO as I said above) while Thiem has not won a major yet. I know it's unlikely scenario, but what the heck, I wish him to win just one USO in his career and nothing else, just to make me funny 100% right with my absolutely uninformed observation. Anyone else has noticed this Thiem-Stosur striking similarity before me did it?

Sam Stosur is unbelievable in going out early year after year at AO.

I don't think it is fair to compare Thiem to her. Thiem had already reached the finals of both singles and doubles in Austria, even though he did not yet manage to win either one. I am sure he will win this event and all home country slams some day.

 

[Moxie]

Sam Stosur is unbelievable in going out early year after year at AO.

I don't think it is fair to compare Thiem to her. Thiem had already reached the finals of both singles and doubles in Austria, even though he did not yet manage to win either one. I am sure he will win this event and all home country slams some day.

Unfair to compare him to Stosur? You're the guy that thought he should commit suicide for poor performance here. (Which was awful to say, btw.)

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Unfair to compare him to Stosur? You're the guy that thought he should commit suicide for poor performance here. (Which was awful to say, btw.)

My point was that Thiem sucking today does not have much to do with the perceived pressure of playing at home. There was an emoji after suicide remark .