Spoiler:
Dominic Thiem's bid to reach a third consecutive Roland Garros semi-final began with a routine 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 victory against 24-year-old Ilya Ivashka of Belarus. Thiem converted eight of his 14 break chances to remain perfect in Roland Garros first-rounders.
The seventh-seeded Austrian is the only man to have beaten Rafael Nadal on clay in each of the past two years and comes into Roland Garros as one of only three men – Nadal and Alexander Zverev – who have celebrated multiple clay-court titles this season. Thiem won last week at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon and in February at the Argentina Open. He also reached the final of the Mutua Madrid Open earlier this month.
“I'm feeling great with a lot of confidence. Physically great, mentally great,” Thiem said. “It's very similar conditions from Lyon to here. So I felt the ball very good from the first moment on. I was moving well and playing well, just one little weak part in the second set. But apart from that, I'm very satisfied.”
Thiem will next meet 19-year-old Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who clinched his maiden Grand Slam victory, beating fellow #NextGenATP player Carlos Taberner of Spain 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3. Tsitsipas had been 0-3 in Grand Slam matches and fell in the first round at Roland Garros last year to Croatian Ivo Karlovic.
Thiem leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-1, but Tsitsipas won their only matchup on clay last month en route to his maiden ATP World Tour final at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell (l. to Nadal).
“We played three times already this year. He's one very good, upcoming player. [He's] going to be Top 10, for sure, in the future and playing already unbelievable. But hope that I can have an advantage over best of five,” Thiem said.
Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis, who beat Roger Federer en route to the 2014 semi-finals (l. to Djokovic), advanced past 29th seed Gilles Muller 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. Gulbis will next meet Italian Matteo Berrettini.
Serbian Dusan Lajovic set a second-round meeting with No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev by sweeping Czech Jiri Vesely 6-3, 6-1, 6-3. Lajovic made his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final earlier this month at the Mutua Madrid Open (l. to Anderson).
The seventh-seeded Austrian is the only man to have beaten Rafael Nadal on clay in each of the past two years and comes into Roland Garros as one of only three men – Nadal and Alexander Zverev – who have celebrated multiple clay-court titles this season. Thiem won last week at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon and in February at the Argentina Open. He also reached the final of the Mutua Madrid Open earlier this month.
“I'm feeling great with a lot of confidence. Physically great, mentally great,” Thiem said. “It's very similar conditions from Lyon to here. So I felt the ball very good from the first moment on. I was moving well and playing well, just one little weak part in the second set. But apart from that, I'm very satisfied.”
Thiem will next meet 19-year-old Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who clinched his maiden Grand Slam victory, beating fellow #NextGenATP player Carlos Taberner of Spain 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3. Tsitsipas had been 0-3 in Grand Slam matches and fell in the first round at Roland Garros last year to Croatian Ivo Karlovic.
Thiem leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-1, but Tsitsipas won their only matchup on clay last month en route to his maiden ATP World Tour final at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell (l. to Nadal).
“We played three times already this year. He's one very good, upcoming player. [He's] going to be Top 10, for sure, in the future and playing already unbelievable. But hope that I can have an advantage over best of five,” Thiem said.
Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis, who beat Roger Federer en route to the 2014 semi-finals (l. to Djokovic), advanced past 29th seed Gilles Muller 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. Gulbis will next meet Italian Matteo Berrettini.
Serbian Dusan Lajovic set a second-round meeting with No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev by sweeping Czech Jiri Vesely 6-3, 6-1, 6-3. Lajovic made his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final earlier this month at the Mutua Madrid Open (l. to Anderson).
http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/thi ... 18-monday1