"It wasn't the best match of my life, but I did play well", that is what a clearly satisfied Robin Haase stated after his surprising win 6:3, 7:6(7) over no. two seed Dominic Thiem. You couldn't say the Austrian played well. He had 44 unforced errors in the match which took 1,5 hours. Too many for a Round of 16 at the GERRY WEBER OPEN.
Time and again the real skills of Dominic Thiem shone through, but it was just not enough, already in the first set. Robin Haase served and also returned well. Up until a score of 4:3 for the man from the Netherlands there wasn't a break. Then it was time: Haase used his first break chance at 15:40 and then brought his service through casually - 6:3 after 34 minutes.
In the second round both players brought their service through up to 5:5. Then it was first Robin Haase, who got Dominic Thiem into trouble with his fabulous returns and could break. But the Austrian fought back straight away. He got the much needed re-break, to stay in the match. It went into the tiebreak. Excitment grew. Dominc Thiem was now the more aggressive player, had two set points at 6:4, but still he made slight mistakes. But he stayed in there. The third set point followed, which could again be fendered off by Robin Haase, to then get his own match point. Dominic Thiem ended the match by a double-fault - symptomatical.
Robin Haase will now meet the Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the Quarterfinals.
