US Open champion Dominic Thiem survived a roller-coaster showdown against wildcard Hugo Gaston to seal a place in the quarter-finals of the French Open for a fifth consecutive year.
The second seed overcame a warrior-like fightback from the world No.239 to prevail 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 6-3, after more than three hours of pulsating action. Gaston, whose best tournament result prior to Roland Garros was reaching the semi-finals of a Challenger event, pushed the Austrian to his limit with repetitive use of the drop shot. Despite the disparity in the rankings between the two, Thiem’s winners tally was overshadowed by Gaston who hit 59 to 30.
“I think it was an amazing match from both of us,” Thiem said afterwards. “Such good fighting qualities from him and I haven’t seen for a very long time a player with such a big touch with his hands.’
“His drop shots are from another planet. I was sprinting like 400 times to the net, all the credit to him. If he continues like this he is going to be a huge player.”
Initially it looked as if the match would be a one-sided Thiem victory as he eased to a two-set lead. However Roland Garros debutant Gaston refused to go away in what was an epic comeback that electrified the crowd on the premier court in Paris. In the end it would be a single break in the eigth game of the decider that would separate the two. A failed Gaston drop shot granted Thiem the break to move ahead 5-3 and serve the match out. A task he managed to achieve with the help of a body serve that his opponent returned into the net on match point.
“I think I missed one break point at two sets to love up and four-all. It was an easy forehand mistake and from that point it changed a little bit,” Thiem reflected. “I was losing a bit of energy and Hugo was playing amazing with his drop shots. I couldn’t find a right answer to that.’
“Then in the fifth set I found a new energy and was playing good again. It was a great fight until the end. I am very lucky I made it through today.”
Overall Thiem won just 11 points more than the Frenchman (158-147) and crucially saved ten out of the 13 break points he faced. It is the tenth time he has won a five-set match in his career and second within as many months. At the US Open he came back from two sets down to defeat Alexander Zverev in the US Open final.
Thiem’s reward is a showdown with Diego Schwzrtzman who enjoyed a much smoother entry into the quarter-finals. The Argentine dismissed Lorenzo Sonego 6-1, 6-3, 6-4.
“It’s all about recovery now. I’ve had a tough past few weeks and today was three-and-a-half hours with a lot of sprinting and running,” the 27-year-old stated.
“Against Diego there are going to be some long rallies. I think he likes these conditions, a bit slower and not such a high bounce. I am looking forward to the match but it is going t be difficult.”
Thiem leads Schwzrtzman 6-2 in their head-to-head.
