Does the Lower Austrian settle the score?
After a long dry spell, Dominic Thiem was able to record a small sense of achievement in the first round of the Swiss Open 2023. The Lower Austrian won 2:0 against Alexandre Müller (6:1 and 7:6) and celebrated his first singles victory on the ATP Tour since April. Now, too, the betting on Dominic Thiem’s victory against Hamad Medjedovic is basically under a good star.
However, it must be taken into account that the Serbian already defeated the former US Open champion of 2020 2-0 on the ATP Challenger Tour in May. Also on clay, Hamad Medjedovic celebrated a smooth 2:0 victory over the Lower Austrian (7:6 and 6:2) in the semifinals of Mauthausen. A result that should not be left out of the forecast for Dominic Thiem against Hamad Medjedovic.
It remains to be said that Dominic Thiem has already achieved far more in his career than the still largely inexperienced Hamad Medjedovic, who in the first round of the Swiss Open played only his eighth rated singles match ever on the ATP Tour. Nevertheless, the 20-year-old shooting star already proved in the aforementioned encounter with Thiem in Mauthausen that he can already keep up with stronger players in terms of perspective.
Nevertheless, we were too convinced by the Lower Austrian’s opening victory. Accordingly, we are betting on Dominic Thiem getting revenge against Hamad Medjedovic.
Dominic Thiem – Statistics & current form
Current world ranking: 94
Position in the seedings: unseeded
The 29-year-old Austrian Dominic Thiem continues to find it extremely difficult to return to his old form since suffering a hand injury for much of the last two years.
In the meantime, the former US Open winner of 2020 had even fallen to 352nd place in the ATP world rankings. He is currently ranked 94th in the world and is just inside the top 100.
Won only eight of 23 singles matches in 2023 on the ATP Tour
Accordingly, hopes are high at every tournament on the ATP Tour that the Wiener Neustädter attends that things will finally turn around. The former world number three has already proven several times in his career that he has the potential to win a comparatively poorly seeded tournament like the Swiss Open.
Dominic Thiem has won a total of 17 singles titles on the ATP Tour alone. Since his triumph at the US Open in 2020, however, the 29-year-old has not won a single tournament. This year, meanwhile, he has just eight wins from 23 singles matches on the ATP Tour.
Already strong in Wimbledon
At the Wimbledon Championships, where the Lower Austrian, as an unseeded player, already had a tough draw in round one and met Stefanos Tsitsipas, Dominic Thiem was able to sell himself dearly in a very close 3-2 defeat.
His fans should be all the more pleased that he has now won the Swiss Open in Gstaad 2:0, in which the 29-year-old did not surrender a single service game. Against this backdrop, it makes sense that the odds in the run-up to the match between Dominic Thiem and Hamad Medjedovic are swinging in the direction of the player from Wiener Neustadt.
Hamad Medjedovic – Statistics & current form
Current world ranking: 183
Seeded List Position: Qualifier
The 20-year-old Serb Hamad Medjedovic only ventured from the ITF Junior Tour to the pros the year before last. The accomplished clay court player, who reached the last 16 of the French Open junior singles in 2020, has so far mainly appeared in tournaments on the ATP Challenger Tour.
With three overall victories in Challenger tournaments so far – two of them in the current year – the player from Novi Pazar has shown that he could also play a role on the ATP Tour in the medium term.
Won only two of his eight singles matches on the ATP Tour
So far, however, there hasn’t been too much to pick up for Hamad Medjedovic in ATP Tour tournaments. After successfully qualifying for the Swiss Open with two straight 2-0 wins over Federico Gaio and Otto Virtanen, he at least managed a 2-1 comeback win over Zhang Zhizhen (ATP 70) in the first round.
It was only the Serb’s second ever win in the eighth ranked singles match of his career on the ATP Tour. The 20-year-old, who celebrated his birthday on Tuesday, will now look to build on this on his favourite surface by defeating Dominic Thiem again.
The only duel so far went to Medjedovic
In his last Challenger tournament win to date, Hamad Medjedovic celebrated a smooth 2:0 victory (7:6 and 6:2) against the Lower Austrian in the semifinals of the Danube Upper Austria Open 2023 in Mauthausen. It is therefore not impossible that Dominic Thiem’s bet on another victory for the Serbian shooting star against Hamad Medjedovic will come true.
However, the 20-year-old will have to improve considerably. Despite winning his opening match, he only won 38% of return games and 44% of return points in the first round. Values that are potentially too low to put the Wiener Neustädter, whose service in the opening match was not a problem, in trouble in the long run.
Dominic Thiem – Hamad Medjedovic Direct comparison / H2H balance
Head to head: 0:1
While this is the first time both athletes have faced each other in a singles match rated on the ATP Tour. However, Dominic Thiem and Hamad Medjedovic already met in May this year at the Challenger tournament in Mauthausen. The Serb won 2-0 on clay in the semifinals (7-6, 6-2) and also secured the tournament title in the end.
Dominic Thiem – Hamad Medjedovic Tip
Overall, our prediction for Dominic Thiem against Hamad Medjedovic is for a win for the player from Wiener Neustadt, who finally played with a large degree of freedom in his 2-0 opening win over Alexandre Müller and celebrated his first singles win on the ATP Tour since April 2023. The Lower Austrian will now face a young opponent who is only about to play his ninth singles match on the ATP Tour.
Although the Serbian celebrated an outright 2:0 victory on clay over Dominic Thiem at a Challenger tournament in Mauthausen in May 2023. Nevertheless, we believe that the Lower Austrian, who did not surrender a single service game in the opening match, will now get his revenge.
