Winston-Salem Open 2022: Dominic Thiem vs Jack Draper preview, head-to-head, prediction, odds and pick
Match Details
Fixture: (WC) Dominic Thiem vs (13) Jack Draper.
Date: August 24, 2022.
Tournament: Winston-Salem Open 2022.
Round: Third round (Round of 16).
Venue: Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States.
Category: ATP 250.
Surface: Hard.
Prize money: $731,935.
Match timing: Not before 7 pm local time, 11 pm GMT and 4:30 am IST.
Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK – Amazon Prime Video | Canada - TSN | Australia - beIN Sports.
Dominic Thiem vs Jack Draper preview
2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem will take on World No. 55 Jack Draper in the third round of the 2022 Winston-Salem Open on Wednesday.
Playing in his first hardcourt tournament of the season, Thiem saved a couple of match points during his first-round win over J.J. Wolf. The Austrian was up against top seed Grigor Dimitrov in the second round.
Dimitrov completely dominated the first set, dishing out a bagel to claim it. Thiem stepped up his game in the next set. After splitting the first four games evenly, the 28-year-old snagged a break in the fifth game of the set to go 3-2 up. He followed it up with a hold of serve to further cement his lead.
Unfortunately, Dimitrov was unable to continue after this point as he took ill, forcing him to retire from the match and sending Thiem into the next round.
Sad to see 😔
@domithiem is through to R3 after Grigor Dimitrov is forced to retire…
So much respect between these two ☺️
#WSOpen https://t.co/iOcWQVLHHG
Following a first-round bye, Draper took on Fabio Fognini in the second round. The Brit started the match by dropping serve in the first game but broke back immediately in the next game to level the score.
After another couple of service holds, Draper broke his opponent's serve twice to win four games in a row to clinch the opening set. Fognini went up an early break in the second set but squandered his lead yet again. The Italian secured another break of serve in the seventh game of the set, and this time he held on to the lead until the end of the set to win it.
The deciding set was quite one-sided. Draper raced to a quick 5-0 lead before Fognini got on board with a hold of serve. The 20-year easily served out the match after that to win 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.
Dominic Thiem vs Jack Draper head-to-head
This will be the first meeting between them, so the head-to-head stands at 0-0 for now.
Dominic Thiem vs Jack Draper odds
(All odds are sourced from BetMGM)
Dominic Thiem vs Jack Draper prediction
Thiem played a pretty good match against Wolf in the first round but was unable to bring that same intensity in the next round. Nevertheless, he got a second shot due to Dimitrov's mid-match retirement.
Draper has continued his steady rise to the top of the men's game. He scored a sensational win over Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Canadian Open. He was tested by Fognini in the second round here but remained focused to crush the Italian's comeback.
The number of unforced errors was higher than the winners in the second round for both of them. But considering Thiem's match was much shorter than Draper's, it casts an unfavorable light on his shotmaking. The British youngster utilizes his lefty serve quite well and he's pretty good from the back of the court too.
Thiem will need to step up his game drastically. He won just 40% of his first serve points in the second round, and that simply won't cut it against better players. He also looked to be struggling physically in the previous round.
If he steps up his game, he could challenge Draper, but the 20-year-old should emerge victorious in the end.
Pick: Jack Draper to win in three sets.