Austria’s Dominic Thiem serves the ball to Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik during their men’s singles second round match on day five of The Roland Garros 2019 French Open tennis tournament in Paris on May 30, 2019. (Photo by CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP)
Last year’s runner-up Dominic Thiem said he was “prepared” to face some underarm serves from entertaining Kazakh Alexander Bublik as he reached the third round at Roland Garros for the fourth straight year on Thursday.
The Austrian fourth seed was facing a fifth set when trailing 5-2 in the fourth, but reeled off five straight games to win 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 7-5.
World number 91 Bublik delighted the Court Philippe Chatrier crowd with his wide range of shots, including three underarm serves, but ran out of steam at the wrong time.
Fiery Australian Nick Kyrgios has caused controversy in recent months with underarm serves, while Bublik also used the tactic during his first-round win over Rudolf Molleker.
“I expected it. To be honest, it’s a good choice against players like us who are that far behind the baseline,” said Thiem.
“There is nothing bad about it. And, I mean, I was prepared for that, so that was no problem.
“There’s nothing wrong about it. It’s sometimes quite a good tactic.”
It is 30 years since fans on Chatrier witnessed the most famous underarm serve in modern history by then-17-year-old Michael Chang against Ivan Lendl en route to the title.
The 25-year-old Thiem is bidding for a maiden Grand Slam title and has reached at least the semi-finals in Paris for three consecutive years.
He will face Pablo Cuevas in the last 32, after British number one Kyle Edmund retired from their second-round match with a left knee injury while trailing the Uruguayan 7-6 (7/3), 6-3, 2-1.