Thiem On A Tear In Washington Debut
Thiem On A Tear In Washington Debut
In his first outing as top seed at an ATP World Tour 500 event, Dominic Thiem is comfortably through to the third round of the Citi Open on a soaked Tuesday. A rain-delayed start in the US capital failed to dampen the Austrian’s debut as he powered past Henri Laaksonen 6-3, 6-3.
The 23 year old dropped just one point on his first serve and never faced a break point against the Swiss. It marked his first match since he fell to Tomas Berdych in five sets in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
No. 8 seed Jack Sock advanced to the last 16 for the third straight year after he eked out a narrow 7-6(2), 7-6(6) victory over Romanian Marius Copil. Neither player faced a break point throughout, but it was Sock who proved steadier in the tie-breaks.
The American sealed the win on his second match point when Copil rolled a backhand wide. He will look to make it three straight quarter-finals in Washington when he next meets countryman Jared Donaldson or Australian Marc Polmans.
“He’s a very tricky player. He’s a tough opponent for sure, especially on a court like this,” Sock said.
“It’s a little bit quicker than last week, and he serves cannons. He’s got a great first serve, great second serve … He’s not an easy break at all. I’m definitely happy to get through in straights.”
Russian former World No. 20 Dmitry Tursunov used a protected ranking to make the main draw after ongoing injuries. The 34 year old ground out a 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-4 result over American Mitchell Krueger to set a second-round meeting with No. 11 seed Gilles Muller.
Kyle Edmund was too solid for #NextGenATP player Hyeon Chung, of Korea. The Brit sent down seven aces as he raced through 6-3, 6-1 to set a second-round clash with No. 4 seed Grigor Dimitrov.
Marcos Baghdatis, a former world No. 8 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, also advanced past the first round after he saw off Israeli qualifier Edan Leshem. Neither player managed to break in the opening set before the Cypriot ran away with a 7-6(1), 6-0 result. Ryan Harrison is next.