The third Masters 1000 series event of the year awaits us at luxurious ATP Tournament in Monaco. Another second-round match in Monte Carlo Masters where Austrian Dominic Thiem and Slovakian Martin Klizan will face each other. This one is going to be a really entertaining matchup.

 

Dominic Thiem

Firstly Dominic Thiem current world number 5. Start of the spring is probably Dom’s favorite part of the year where all the action takes us on European clay which is Thiem’s beloved surface. Last years clay season was very good for Dom as he managed to beat Nadal in Madrid reached a final there. He finally reached his first grand slam final in Roland Garros only losing to the same Nadal. This year Thiem hired some new coaches and the main one is former two-time Olympic champion Nicolas Massu. He didn’t have to wait for results long and only recently Dom lifted the most important title of his career to date – Indian Wells 1000 on hard.

Dominic is known as a very aggressive baseliner with great defensive skills as well. He’s got unbelievably powerful groundstrokes from both sides. Dominic’s backhand is a thing of beauty as most single-handed backhands are Dom can generate some great power from that wing even from a shoulder height balls. His forehand is hit with a lot of topspin combined with power. His volley is very good as well but he hesitates to go to the net very often. Has a very good serve and a great second serve kick. Definitely one of the favorites to lift the title here.

 

Martin Klizan

Best Slovakian player of his generation having won a handful of ATP titles in his career and has a very good record in finals. Last season was very good another title won in Kitzbuhel and ended the season in a record of 57 wins and 20 losses. Numbers are really impressive. This year Martin hasn’t played much due to his health issues. Also had to retire in Indian Wells against Alex Zverev. Though in his latest statement he announced that he’s fully recovered now and is at 100% once again. And his first round result shows that, as he beat Del Bonis in a match where bookies considered him being a 3 to 1 underdog.

Martin’s game style is controlled aggressive, has a very interesting technique which allows him to use all the court with some remarkable angles which are exciting to watch. Both forehand and backhand are very good also Martin’s a quite tall guy so serves well. Being a lefty Klizan causes some additional problems to his opponents. On his day he can really beat most of the players, his talent is up there with everyone else.

 

H2H

Surprisingly Klizan leads 3-1 and in three of these matches deciding set was required.

 

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