Thiem wins again

After a bit of good fortune got him through a fine semifinal match with Roger Federer, Dominic Thiem defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber in the final of the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart to win his 4^th title of the year.  The semifinal was a wonderful display of the enjoyable features of grass court tennis, with two great players slugging it out on a very fast surface.  Federer missed some key shots that he usually puts away, and that cost him the match.  On one of the shots he had a makeable volley at match point in the second set tiebreaker that he missed.  Another was an easy volley miss in the third set that resulted in a key break of serve against him.

Thiem has now shown he can be a major threat on both clay and grass.  This guy is an awesome player with a terrific second serve and very powerful groundies.   It will be interesting indeed to follow his fortunes at Wimbledon and beyond.

Another important aspect of this tournament was the play of Juan Martin Del Potro.  Though he lost in the semis to Kohlschreiber, he hit the ball quite well and moved very well for a man his size.  Let’s hope he can stay healthy.