Despite any tennis addict could feel legitimately “empty” after last fortnight Wimbledon’s thrilling action, you shouldn’t hurry to condemn current week as one without pulse. In fact it could prove as a real 2022 season milestone with a memorable comeback of Dominic Thiem to top tier standards.
On Tuesday, former World No. 3, collected his first tour-level win in 14 months at Nordea Open and Bastad idyllic scenery – one of Sweden’s most typical summer resorts. Back from a right wrist injury, Thiem battled for a 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (5) victory over Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori – It was the 2020 U.S. Open champion’s first win since Rome in May 2021. Yesterday, Thiem got his ‘back to back’ win afainst inconsistent Roberto Bautista-Agut, producing flurries of accurate and attractive ballstriking, to score his best win (7/6 3/6 6/4) in a very long time.
“I love it here in Bastad. It is great to play here. I am so happy to play here and have another match tomorrow. It’s a process to get back but I’ve now beaten 2 strong players and if I do that I’m ‘back’. I feel I am making good progress. It’s a great feeling to finally get my full strength in the shots back. I still need to improve a couple of things in my game, but overall I’m very happy with my progress! Tomorrow I will give 100% and try to increase my level once more! Thank you all for the support.”
Sebastian Baez is not an easy opponent and seems enjoying his time in Bastad, having already outplayed both (erratic) Fabio Fognini and a poorly focused and undisciplined Alejandro Davidovich Fokina yesterday. However, at the time being, Dominic Thiem seems capable of beating anyone and 2.75 represents great value!
Ladies Open Lausanne Value Bets
Anastasia Potapova was extraordinarily good, winning 10 of the last 12 games to defeat #3 seed Irina-Camelia Begu in straight sets. Thus, Potapova reaches her third quarter-final of the year after winning a clay court title in Istanbul a few months ago. She has definitely much higher potential than Niemeier and i was shocked by the odds rating her as outsider at 2.20!!
Olga Danilovic had an excellent attitude and deservingly won Anna Kalinskaya after saving a match point and coming back from 4-1 down in the final set. Crowd favorite wildcard Simona Waltert is nothing special, Danilovic has already won her at French Open qualifiers and 1.66 is a fair price for today’s quarter final at Lausanne.