Stefanos Tsitsipas suffers shock first-round loss to Daniel Galán at US Open
Reigning US Open champion and world No. 3 Dominic Thiem saw out the first set as Daniel Galán powered to a 6-3 6-4 6-0 victory on Friday to reach his first Grand Slam final.
Thiem had the wind at his back in the final set as he powered past Galán 6-3 6-4 6-0 in an hour-long match that lasted nearly four hours.
The Austrian-born German was not playing well at the start of the match, dropping serve early on nine times. But Thiem refused to cede the opening set and broke Galán at 5-4 in the first game to lead 5-3 at the midway point.
Thiem extended his lead at 5-4 with a break of serve in the second game of the set, and he closed out the victory with a game-winning serve to end a drama-filled match.
“The first set was probably my best chance,” Thiem said after his 7-6 (2), 6-3 win. “I made some errors, a couple of big errors. I did a little bit of the old Daniel Galán strategy, which is to win the first game quickly and then work my way back.
“And then I just tried to make it hard for him to play well and make it harder for him. It took him some time to get back in the match, and it was nice. He’s a very good player, no doubt. So I’m happy to be here at the end of the day. Now the hard part is to get to the finals in New York next year.”
Galán also gave the crowd plenty to cheer.
The 22-year-old opened the match with a drop shot to break in the fourth game. Galán then netted a double fault on his first match point of the match. The Spaniard would take the set for the 13th time this
