Dominic Thiem and Bernard Tomic are set to meet for the first time when they face each other in the final of the ATP 500 event in Acapulco.
Both men had very different semi-final wins. Thiem swept aside in-form American Sam Querrey in less than an hour, breaking the American four times, twice in each set. Thiem was rampant and lost just eight points on his own serve and did not face a single break point. Thiem has had an excellent week, dropping just the one set to Dmitry Tursunov in the second round. He has managed straight sets wins over Damir Dzumhur, Grigor Dimitrov, and now Querrey. Acapulco represents the fourth time that Thiem has reached the semi-finals or better in a tournament, reaching his second final of the year.
Bernard Tomic has managed to put a poor Delray Beach tournament behind him. he had lost to American Rajeev Ram in that event, but set the record straight by defeating the same opponent in his opening match in Mexico. Straight sets wins over Adrian Mannarino and Illya Marchenko followed before he met Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Dolgopolov easily proved to be Tomic’s toughest opponent thus far this week, as the Ukrainian stormed to the first set, breaking the Australian three times, winning the first four games, and holding his own serve despite a miserable 38% first serve percentage. Tomic edged a second set where he only won a single point against the Dolgopolov first serve, but capitalised by winning twelve on the second. That was enough for the single break, after a twenty-eight shot rally, and Tomic would hold serve to level affairs.
The third set saw four breaks, and three of them were for Tomic. Tomic gained the lead and though Dolgopolov found one break of serve, Tomic won the match when Dolgopolov smacked a cross-court forehand into the net.
Final Preview: Tomic and Thiem have surprisingly never met before either on the ATP or Challenger Tour. Tomic has had an inconsistent year thus far, good tournaments followed by early defeats, whilst Thiem has been remarkably consistent since the Australian Open. Both men have good serves, but I fancy Thiem because I think his break game is stronger than Tomic’s. Winner: Thiem in straight sets.
