Dominic Thiem won his first ATP match for 14 months after beating Emil Ruusuvuori 3-6 6-1 7-6(5) in his opening match in Bastad.
The world number three earned his first victory since Rome last year after a tight three set victory over the in-form Finnish player.
Thiem had a bad start to the match as he went down 5-1 with Ruusuvuori playing some impressive tennis.
However the Austrian came back in the second set with a couple of breaks of his own as he forced a deciding set to the Swedish crowd’s delight.
Ruusuvuori took the advantage at the start of the second set as he grabbed the early break for 2-0 before the former US Open champion immediately responded.
They once again exchanged breaks in the seventh and eighth games with Thiem breaking first with a love return game.
But the world number 43 converted his third break point to seal the break back as the decider eventually went to a tiebreak.
Thiem dominated the start of the tiebreak and despite a mini-blip secured victory after Ruusuvuori hit a double fault on match point down.
After the match Thiem explained to the ATP website what the victory meant to him, “My last victory was in Rome in 2021, it feels like a different world somehow,” Thiem said.
“Many, many things happened. It was tough, but it was also a very good experience, I think, for life in general. I’m so happy that I got this first victory here today.”
Thiem will have be very relieved to have won a match after being so unsure of himself in his performances recently.
The Austrian also spoke about his performance in general, “It was a very difficult match,” Thiem said.
“I didn’t have a very good start and then I fought really well, but I had a really tough period with many losses and not many wins, so it was really difficult for me to close out the match.
“Even though I played pretty good in the second and third sets. I have to control the nerves a little bit better, especially when it gets to the end.”
Thiem will play fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut in the second round with the Spaniard leading their head-to-head 4-1.
