Former World No. 3 Dominic Thiem has received a qualifying wild card for the Paris Masters.
Dominic Thiem, a two-time Roland Garros finalist, received a… qualifying wild card for Paris Bercy. It’s not that he’s not playing well recently 🤷🏻♂️ — Jose Morgado (@josemorgado) October 26, 2022
Thiem, now ranked 113th in the world, did not come close to making the main draw cut at the Paris Masters.
Even though Thiem has been given a qualifying wild card, there is apparently a chance he may not even try to play in Paris.
Thiem will close out his season in Vienna if he reaches his top 100 goal (needs one more win).
But curious to see if he will actually play Qualies at Bercy or not.
— Jose Morgado (@josemorgado) October 26, 2022
Thiem, 29, has played at the Paris Masters six times throughout his career. In 2014, Thiem made his debut at the last Masters of the year. Back then, Thiem defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov in his first match in Paris before losing to Stan Wawrinka in the second round.
Thiem’s best result at Bercy came in 2018, when he reached the semi-final before falling short to eventual champion Karen Khachanov.
Thiem playing in his home country this week
This week, Thiem competes in front of his home fans at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna.
On Tuesday, Thiem survived a thrilling first-round match as he saved two match points to beat Tommy Paul 2-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(6). Thiem got off to a very slow start to the match as Paul claimed back-to-back breaks to open up a 4-0 lead.
Double-breaking, Paul routinely held onto his serve the rest of the set to win the first set. In the second set, there were break chances on both sides, but neither player managed to convert. Thiem saved three break points in the second set, but also lost three break points in the second set as the set had to go to a tie break.
In the tie break, Thiem won five straight points to open a 6-1 lead before converting his second set point to send the match to a decider. In the third set, Paul broke Thiem in the second game and had a 5-2 lead after the first seven games of the decider.
Down by a break, Thiem refused and managed to send the third set to another tie break. There, Thiem saved two consecutive match points before converting his first match point to complete a huge comeback.
