Fifth seed and reigning Barcelona Open champion Dominic Thiem will play a man he is yet to beat on tour as he faces Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in the second round of the Italian Open on Wednesday, May 15. The timings for this match are yet to be confirmed. You can find the Dominic Thiem v Fernando Verdasco live streaming options, preview and predictions here.
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Dominic Thiem v Fernando Verdasco Head to Head
Thiem and Verdasco have met three times on tour with the Spaniard surprisingly victorious in all three matches. Verdasco won their recent match on clay at the 2018 Rio Open 6-4, 6-0.
Can Thiem Solve the Verdasco Puzzle?
Shortly after securing a hard-fought straights sets win over Dominic Thiem at the Madrid Open semifinals, Novak Djokovic labeled the Austrian as the best player on clay on current form. Such was the brilliance that Thiem was displaying on the dirt and it took the World No.1 over two hours to produce a near-impeccable performance to slay him down.
Thiem will turn his attentions to the Italian Open, as will the rest of field with the second Grand Slam event around the corner. The Austrian enforcer has a 100% losing record against his opponent in Rome Fernando Verdasco. In their three meetings on tour, the Spaniard has won all of them. Perhaps the most significant of all was the Rio Open last year where Thiem walked in as the defending champion and was beaten quite handsomely in the quarterfinals.
Thiem though is enjoying his career-best season so far with a maiden Masters 1000 title under his belt, and the biggest European clay-court crown won in Barcelona. But with his great reputation particularly on clay, will he solve the Verdasco puzzle for once?
Verdasco Looking For Momentum and Maintaining 100% Record
Fernando Verdasco is coming off a confidence-boosting win over British No.1 Kyle Edmund in the opening round of the Italian Open. The Spanish left-hander recovered from losing the first set to triumph in three sets and extend Edmund’s run of successive first round defeats to four.
The 35-year-old will look to build on that win after a respectable third round showing in Madrid last week where he beat Radu Albot and Karen Khachanov before falling to eventual finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Verdasco’s good record against Thiem might surprise many, but his ultra-aggressive approach can be dangerous for any top-10 opponent on a good day. However, those goods have been few and far between. After peaking at No.27 last year and ending the season at 28th (his first top-30 year-end ranking since 2012), the Spaniard has tumbled down the rankings to No.38 in 2019 courtesy of his inconsistency.
Thiem v Verdasco Predictions & Tips
This is a tricky opening round match for Dominic Thiem who needs to pick himself up very quickly after a brutal battle against Djokovic. The win in Rio will inspire the Spaniard to replicate that performance on the courts of Foro Italico where Thiem lost at a similar stage to Fabio Fognini last year. I can see the left-hander winning at least a set here against a vulnerable opponent.
Tip: Over 21.50 games: 5/6 (888Sport)
The Thiem v Verdasco match can be watched live with Unibet here on May 15, 2019. Also get the latest tennis tips and predictions here.
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