Dominic Thiem continued his triumphant march on the small South American sand court tour: The Lower Austrian defeated Dusan Lajovic in Rio de Janeiro in two sets and now meets Pablo Andujar.
A little more than 48 hours after his ninth win in Buenos Aires, Dominic Thiem needed 77 minutes to defeat Lajovic in the fourth match for the fourth time. 6:2 and 7:5 was the result of the second game of the Night Session, in which Thiem lost his serve once, but in return made four breaks. Gael Monfils and Horacio Zeballos played out their entry fees in the first match of the evening, with the better end for the Frenchman who won 7:5,3:6 and 7:5.
Thiem ensured the only Austrian success of the day: Andreas Haider-Maurer was defeated on Tuesday by Aljaz Bedene and Gerald Melzer by the Spanish returnee Pablo Andujar. The latter will give the second round opponent of Thiem on Thursday. Against the Spaniard, who celebrated his first match win against Melzer after a two-year dry spell due to injury, Thiem played in Rio in 2016 – and won in two sets.
Austria’s No. 1, ranked second behind Marin Cilic in Rio in 2018, had stormed to the title without losing a set a year ago, defeating Pablo Carreno Busta in the final. The Spaniard is a potential opponent of Thiem again this year, in the final round.
In Buenos Aires, the 24-year-old Lichtenwörther also made it into the semi-finals in doubles alongside Diego Schwartzman, and this week Thiem is concentrating on the individual tasks. From an Austrian point of view, only experienced Alexander Peya fights with Nikola Metkic for victory in the doubles competition.
Here the single panel in Rio de Janeiro