Eighth seed Dominic Thiem withstood a determined Benoit Paire on Saturday at the Australian Open, firing 46 winners to prevail 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in their third-round battle and reach the second week in Melbourne for the first time in his career.
“He started to play better. Of course I expected it, because it’s normal that he doesn’t continue like [he did] in the first set,” said Thiem. “It was pretty uncomfortable for me, all his drop shots and he was coming up to the net a lot. He knew how to hurt me. It was pretty lucky for me to win these [last] two sets.”
Next up for Thiem is No. 11 seed David Goffin, who wasted no time defeating No. 20 seed Ivo Karlovic, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. “It was almost a perfect match against a guy like Ivo, who is serving bombs all the time. And every time I was on the ball, it was a great return. So I made some good shots, and I was really solid,” Goffin said. “I'm feeling really good, and I'm really happy to win in three sets. Because to have that kind of score against Ivo, it's not every day that you can break him four times.”
Goffin leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Thiem 4-3, which includes a four-set victory over the Austrian in the third round of last year’s Australian Open. “There are not many secrets,” said Thiem. “We are good friends. We’ve had some very important and good matches in the past. I would say both of us have a good chance to reach the quarters.”
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Thiem raced to a 5-0 lead in the opening set as Paire struggled to find the range on his shots. But the flashy Frenchman regrouped in the second set, hanging tough with Thiem and finally securing his first break in the 10th game to level the match at one set each.
The Austrian rebounded as Paire’s first serve percentage dropped drastically in the third set to just 37 per cent. Thiem stepped in on his returns and took control in more of the baseline rallies to grab the third set. The fourth set was a nervy affair from both players featuring seven breaks of serve, but Thiem hung tough and closed out the victory in two hours and 23 minutes.
Meanwhile, Goffin was flawless on Hisense Arena, hitting 28 winners to just five unforced errors. Goffin didn’t face a break point all match and broke the big-serving Karlovic four times to wrap up the win in one hour and 27 minutes.
Third seed Milos Raonic was all smiles after an impressive display saw him defeat 25th seed Gilles Simon 6-2, 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3 in the third round. The Canadian advanced in two hours and 34 minutes, striking 21 aces and breaking serve five times from seven opportunities.
Raonic was especially pleased with his performance, considering he had a fever all day on Friday. “I had a bad fever. I didn't come here yesterday. I just slept pretty much all day. Everything was aching,” he said.
The 26-year-old Raonic made his Grand Slam breakthrough at Melbourne Park six years ago, reaching the fourth round as a qualifier. The Toronto native recorded his best run Down Under last year, when he reached the semi-finals (l. to Murray), and would go on to compete in his first major final at Wimbledon (l. to Murray).
“A lot comes from experience and going through a lot of different things over the last few years which you can't sort of cheat or just understand through discussion. I'm just a lot more aware of those things as they happen. I really try to focus on things that are important to me,” Raonic said. “I always try to see, am I the one that is controlling play? Am I behind because I'm not executing or am I behind because I'm letting him be the dictator? That's sort of what I look out for. That was my issue towards the end of that third set and a little gap in the fourth set. But I was able to get that back.”
Next up for Raonic will be No. 13 seed Roberto Bautista Agut, who prevailed in a brutal all-Spanish battle with No. 21 seed David Ferrer, surviving more than four hours of punishing baseline rallies to advance 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-4.
Almost nothing separated the two players, with Bautista Agut winning 172 points in the match to Ferrer’s 161. Bautista Agut continues to excel in Melbourne, having also reached the fourth round here in 2014 and 2016.