Us Open champion Dominic Thiem warned his maiden Grand Slam title was taking its toll as he edged into the quarter-finals of the French Open last night.
The runner-up for the past two years at Roland Garros was surprisingly taken to five sets by the previously unheralded Frenchman Hugo Gaston before edging him out 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 6-3.
Afterwards, Thiem admitted: “Obviously, the last weeks were tough. I’m not running on a full tank anymore, that’s for sure.
"From my perspective now, it’s all about recovery. So, I’ll try to recover as good as I can.”
The Austrian faces close friend Diego Schwartzman, who has not dropped a set in his four opening matches and beat Rafael Nadal in the warm-up event in Italy, for a place in the last four.
And despite Schwartzman never having made it past the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam, Thiem said: “I think he’s going to be the heavy favourite. If I’m able to recover, it’s going to be an exciting match.”
