After his knockout round in Buenos Aires, Dominic Thiem also lost early on at the ATP 500 tournament in Rio de Janeiro. The 29-year-old from Lower Austria lost to the Brazilian Thiago Monteiro 1: 6, 6: 3, 6: 7 at the start of the clay court tournament, which he had already won in 2017. It was Thiem’s first meeting with ATP-83, which is 13 places ahead of him in the world rankings. “Of course I got off to a bad start. I didn’t get along well at the beginning,” said Thiem, “then I fought my way into the game well.” The second set was good, “the third actually too, I only took too few chances.”
In the third round he missed chances for a break. “I just lack the last conviction and then he played very well. I have to say that clearly. It is what it is – next week, next chance.”
Thiem is still in Rio, where he is still in double action on Tuesday alongside Spaniard Pedro Martinez. The hoped-for point collection on his South American tour has so far been more of a failure. He has his next chance next week at the ATP 250 event in Santiago de Chile, the home of his coach Nicolas Massu. After that, Thiem has secured a wildcard for the Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells (from March 8).
