Dominic Thiem edges pass Mate Delic to reach the title match in Boys’ Singles – French Open 2011
14th seed Austrian, Dominic Thiem, swept into the final of the Boys’ singles event at Roland Garros, after defeating his Croatian opponent, Mate Delic, in the semi-final on Friday afternoon. Thiem took just one hour
and thirty four minutes to wrap up a thrilling three-set victory over Delic 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, getting a berth in the final of the Grand Slam event.
The back-and-forth contest was dominated by the Austrian competitor for the most of the time and he displayed some excellent tennis skills to outplay Delic in the semi-final matchup. The Croatian took the opening set to get the
early advantage in the competition but Thiem bounced back very strongly in the following set to level the game with one set a piece. The Austrian then carried on his winning momentum in the last set to blow away Delic from the contest, booking a spot in the
final of the French Open.
Despite of a pathetically low serve of merely 41 per cent, Thiem amazingly secured 27 out of 32 first serve points in the game, conceding just one double fault as compared to Delic’s four. 10 thudding aces from the Austrian’s racquet
also played a vital role in exerting pressure upon Delic, who eventually crumbled in the third set to lose the match.
Delic was good on delivering the first serve, reaching 62 percent accuracy but only scored 51 out of 84 total points on his serve. Both boys had nine chances each to break their opponent’s serve, with Thiem converting four of them
and Delic following him with just one.
The unseeded Croat was quick to take off in the opening set and cracked some assertive winners to show his aggressive intent. He reeled off 12 of 14 first serve points and struck a crucial break point to clinch the opener at 6-3,
getting one up in the contest.
A terrific comeback was seen from the Austrian competitor in the second set when he broke Delic’s serve early to get into 4-2 lead. Thiem fired five aces and secured 10 of 11 first serve points to take the second set at 6-3 to
level the competition with one set a piece. He was merciless in the final set and allowed Delic to hold serve in just one game, breaking his serve three times to close the match at 6-1 to march into the final of the Grand Slam event.
Thiem will take on Bjorn Fratangelo of the United States in the final of the Boys’ singles category, as the American defeated the local wildcard, Tristan Lamasine 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, in the semi-final encounter.
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