Facundo Bagnis vs. Dominic Thiem: Preview and betting tips

The tennis event in Kitzbühel is one of the ATP 250 events. It is the last chance for players to play a tournament of this category on clay. After that, it’s all about the American concrete.

The fate of the Austrian tournament brought Dominic Thiem (29 years old, ATP 112th) and Facundo Bagnis ( 33 years old, ATP 133rd) against each other again. The players met last week in Umag, Croatia, and the Austrian won their match in two sets.

Thiem is a former world number three and his big motivation is to get back to more prestigious places in the ATP rankings. The Argentine has been the highest ranked player in the world top six so far.

This year’s clay court form

Both players have similar results in clay tournaments. Thiem’s record is even, having won and lost 14 matches. However, it must be added that some of his defeats have come against very tough opponents.

Among his defeats this year on the slowest surface are Tsitsipas, Rune and Fritz. Some of the aforementioned matches ranked among the highest quality duels at the tennis events in question.

For example, against the Greek tennis player, only the tiebreak of the third set had to be decided. Even longer was the Tsitsipas – Thiem match at this year’s Wimbledon, where the Greek enjoyed the progress after 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-7, 7-6

Bagnis has his clay record in 2023 slightly positive (18:17). However, he has not played as many matches against quality opponents. He has repeatedly played against weaker players in qualifiers.

In conclusion …

Thiem is still quite far from his best performances of the past and it is questionable whether he will ever get close to them. However, he will be the favorite for this first round match. He managed to beat Bagnis a week ago and he certainly has a good chance of repeating the result at his home tournament this time around.

Source: ATP