Dominic Thiem battled past Stan Wawrinka 3-6 6-3 7-5 after 2 hours and 31 minutes in a clash between two former Grand Slam champions that finished at 2.22 am at the Paris Rolex Masters 1000 at the Acoorhotel Arena in Paris Bercy.
Wawrinka converted his third break point in the eighth game and served it out on his second set point in the ninth game.
Thiem broke serve at love in the second game and saved two break points to hold serve at deuce to open up a 3-0 lead. Wawrinka converted his third break-back in the fifth game. Thiem rallied from 40-15 to break serve at deuce and forced the decider on his second set point after saving two break points.
Wawrinka held a match point at 5-3 40-30 in the third set, but he made his sixth double fault of the match. Thiem pulled back on serve to draw level to 5-5 when Wawrinka missed a forehand long. The Austrian player broke again on his next return game, when Wawrinka’s backhand flew long after a long rally.
The Austrian player closed out the match with a hold at love when Wawrinka missed a forehand return long.
Thiem has clinched his first win at a hard-court Masters 1000 tournament since the Paris Rolex Masters in 2019.
Thiem has played against Wawrinka for the first time since Indian Wells in 2017. The Austrian player improved to 2-3 in his head-to-head series against his Swiss opponent. All five matches were held in Masters 1000 tournaments.
“It’s very nice to share a great and close match like that with Stan because we have a history together of many great matches. Obviously he is one of my big idols backhand wise. In the last two years I have lost more close matches than I have won, so this was a very important win for me. The tennis has been getting better since Vienna. I beat two great guys in the qualifying round and now Stan in a match after saving a match point, so it gives me a huge boost”, said Thiem.
Fritz, Paul and Dimitrov reach the second round
Ninth-seeded Taylor Fritz beat Sebastian Baez 6-1 6-4 to reach the second round at the Paris Rolex Masters at the Accor Hotel Arena in Paris Bercy.
Fritz converted all three break points to set up a second round match against either Arthur Fils or Daniel Altmaier before a potential third round match against Holger Rune.
Fritz broke twice in the fourth and sixth games and served out the first set 6-1 on his third set point. The US player earned an early break in the first game to open up a 2-0 lead. He saved a break point in the fourth game to hold serve at deuce and served out the win on his first match point.
Fritz has moved ahead of Hubert Hurkacz into ninth in the ATP Live Race to Turin. The Californian player is currently 190 points behind reigning Paris Rolex Masters champion Holger Rune.
Tommy Paul came back from one set down to beat Richard Gasquet 0-6 6-2 7-6 (8-6). Gasquet broke three times to to take a bagel win in the first set. Paul fought back by breaking twice in the first and seventh game to win the second set 6-2.
Paul went a double break to take a 5-2 lead. Gasquet pulled back on serve twice to draw level to 5-5. Paul fended off three match points in the decisive tie-break winning the final three five points.
Grigor Dimitrov beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-2 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 one week after winning his previous head-to-head match against his Italian opponent in the first round in Vienna.
Dimitrov set up a second round match against Danil Medvedev, who beat his Bulgarian opponent in three sets in the second round in Vienna.
Musetti saved an break point in the first game of the opening set. Dimitrov earned an early break at love in the fifth game. The Bulgarian player broke for the second time in the seventh game to win the first set 6-2.
Dimitrov broke serve in the third game to take a 2-1 lead and saved two break-back point in the sixth game to hold serve at deuce for 4-2 with an ace and a forehand. Musetti fended off two break points in the seventh game to hold serve for 3-4 and a match point in the ninth game before breaking serve in the 10th game to draw level to 5-5. Musetti won the tie-break 7-4 with four mini-breaks forcing the match to the decider.
Dimitrov earned an early break in the second game of the third set and won his final three service games at love to close out the third set 6-2.
