Australian Open 2021: 'I'm not a machine' - Dominic Thiem has no excuses after Grigor Dimitrov loss

ByEurosport

Published 14/02/2021 at 11:14 GMT

After coming back from two sets down to beat Nick Kyrgios in an epic contest in the previous round of the Australian Open, Dominic Thiem found the tank was empty against his Bulgarian opponent, who powered to a 6-4 6-4 6-0 success in Melbourne. Aslan Karatsev is up next for Dimitrov in the quarter fnals

Dominic Thiem has suggested a combination of factors contributed to his defeat to Grigor Dimitrov at the Australian Open, as the Austrian said he is "not a machine".

Thiem had to dig deep to beat Nick Kyrgios in five epic sets in the third round, and the well was dry when he attempted to find reserves against Dimitrov.

The number three seed has suggested he was carrying an injury into the match, but did not want it to detract from Dimitrov’s 6-4 6-4 6-0 success.

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"A combination of some little physical issues, plus a real bad day, plus the fact that he's a great player ... a result like that can happen," the 27-year-old US Open champion said.

"I'm not a machine. Sometimes I would like to be, but there are really, really bad days.

As soon as you're not 100% at this level, then results like this come up, and that's exactly what happened today."

Thiem battled back from two sets down to beat Kyrgios a couple of nights previous, but he had nothing in the tank to produce a repeat against Dimitrov.

Highlights | Dominic Thiem - Grigor Dimitrov

"It was a special match two nights ago, and I woke up maybe a little bit different than on a normal match, especially with all the energy from the crowd," Thiem said. "But ... it didn't really affect me today."

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