Dominic Thiem continued his impressive 2016 with a 7-5, 6-7, 6-1 win over the United States’ Jack Sock in the third round of Indian Wells.
The Austrian, who has the chance to break the ATP Top 10 for the first time with a good run in California, broke the American deep in the opening set to edge ahead. Sock rebounded in the second, breaking Thiem in a set that featured four breaks of serve, two for each player. Sock then won the tiebreak seven-five to ensure that a deciding set was required.
In a similar manner to his victory over Bernard Tomic in Acapulco, Thiem pulled away in the third, breaking the American four times. Sock was unable to hold his serve even once in the final set, getting on the scoreboard by retrieving one of the breaks, but could not stay with the Austrian, who completed the victory in two hours and fifteen minutes.
There was further American disappointment as Sam Querrey’s good run of form was dismissed by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who secured a single break in each set to defeat the Delray Beach winner 6-3, 6-4.
The lone American representative in the fourth round will be John Isner, as the ninth seed defeated Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 7-6. Isner incredibly won all thirty-four points on his first serve in the match, and his cause was aided by fifteen aces. Mannarino could only earn four points against the Isner second serve, one of those a double-fault, as the American raced to victory in one hour and twenty-nine minutes.
Isner will now take on Kei Nishikori in the fourth round, ans if he can produce a serving display similar to the one endured by Mannarino, he may have a chance of defeating the Japanese star. The Isner-Nishikori head-to-head stands at 1-1, with Nishikori winning the most recent meeting in Washington DC last year.
