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. [ALSO LIKE] 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...
Let's start here: No one is predicting Rafael Nadal will lose at Roland Garros. The Spaniard is a 10-time champion at the clay-court Grand Slam and, at times this year, the 31-year-old has looked better than ever on clay. Before losing to Dominic Thiem in the Mutua Madrid Open quarter-finals on 11 May, Nadal had clay-court winning streaks of 50 sets – an Open Era record – and 21 matches. But legends do stumble. So if, on the off chance that Nadal has a bad day in Paris, who might have a chance at challenging him? We present six who could trouble Rafa on la terre battue. [ALSO LIKE] Keep in mind, however, these six – Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem,...
Watch as Dominic Thiem defeats Gilles Simon at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon to win his tenth tour-level title. Photo credit: Richard Lopez.
Dominic Thiem arrived in France for the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon having lost back-to-back matches on clay for the first time since 2016. Then, the Austrian had to play nine sets in the final three days of the tournament. But nothing was able to stop the top seed — not even a set and a break deficit — from defeating home favourite Gilles Simon 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-1 to lift his 10th ATP World Tour trophy. "I'm super happy. I fought really, really hard for this title," Thiem said. "I'm really happy that I won the title. It's always something very special. It's my tenth title, which is a great number." That wasn’t the only milestone for Thiem, as the Austrian...
World No. 8 Dominic Thiem will play Gilles Simon on Saturday for the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon title and the 200th match win of his career (199-117). Thiem, who has won their past five matches, leads Simon 6-2 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. Top-seeded Austrian Thiem will contest his 16th ATP World Tour final (9-6) after he defeated Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in one hour and 58 minutes. Earlier in the day, Thiem needed 50 minutes to win the third set of his quarter-final against Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez for a 6-7(4), 7-6(0), 6-4 victory in just under three hours. The pair had returned on Friday at one-set apiece, after darkness suspended the match. Thiem, 27, improved...
