ATP: King of Buenos Aires – Dominic Thiem triumphs in Argentina

Dominic Thiem won the final at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament in Buenos Aires against Aljaz Bedene. The world number six in the rankings had already stormed to victory in 2016 in the Argentine capital.

After a drought of twelve months, the titleless time for Dominic Thiem is over. The 24-year-old from Lower Austria, who had been successful for the last time on tour in Rio de Janeiro a year ago, beat Aljaz Bedene 6-2,6-4 in the final of Buenos Aires. It was Thiem’s ninth tournament victory of his career – and the seventh on clay.

The flawless balance sheet against Bedene did not suffer any damage in the third comparison. The world rankings-51. had already pulled out at the beginning of the year in Doha and in 2015 at the French Open in Paris.

With a service winner, the “Dominator” took the first round after 37 minutes. Thiem, who travelled to South America with Galo Blanco as coach, physiotherapist Alex Stober and mother Karin, dominated the match with his dreaded “heavy topspin”. The double-break to 3:2 and 5:2 was the logical consequence of his aggressive playing style.

Speaking of doubles: With buddy Diego Schwartzman, Thiem had made it to the semi-finals here too. However, the duo had to concede defeat against the top seeded Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah after two sets on Saturday.

In the second round, Thiem could not play out his status as number one player in the single tableau as vehemently. Bedene held up well for a long time with solid tennis, but at a score of 4:4 he won the decisive break. After tough wrestling, it was finally match point number four that brought Thiem victory – it was an impressive run without losing the set.

Austria’s number one will be back in action next week. At the 500cc event in Rio, defending the title is on the agenda. The first opponent on the Sugar Loaf is Dusan Lajovic from Serbia.