Not much for Thiem to gain in the playoffs

In 2018, in his best performance at the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters, after victories over Andrey Rublev (Russia) and Novak Djokovic (Serbia), he only lost in the quarterfinals to series champion Rafael Nadal (Spain). Dominic Thiem has remained far from achieving similar success at the ATP Masters 1000 clay court tournament in the Principality of Monaco this season. The Lower Austrian (ATP 91) had to concede defeat to the experienced Spaniard and former world number nine Roberto Bautista Agut (ATP 93) in the first qualifying round on Saturday afternoon by scores of 1:6 and 2:6 in just 71 minutes of play. He recently showed an upward trend at the ATP 250 event in Estoril and narrowly exited in the round of 16 on Thursday. He will continue the following week with another ATP 250 clay court event in Munich, for which, as is known, he received a wildcard for the main competition.

Thiem could have actually met 12th-seeded Frenchman Arthur Cazeau (ATP 74) in Monte Carlo, but the 21-year-old called that off at short notice. Instead, it came down to a seventh encounter with 35-year-old Bautista Agut, which Thiem entered with a record of 2:4. In the seventh comparison between the two, there wasn't much going on for the 2020 US Open winner, especially in the first set – he behaved incorrectly and his opponent was too strong. While Bautista Agut took advantage of only two break points in the second and sixth games, Thiem wasted 0:30 for a setback in the first and fifth games. In the second round, Lichtenwörthern fought back again after falling behind quickly at the break and clearly improving. But after dropping another serve at 2:3, he wasted a break point and 40:15 on serve at 2:4 and had to congratulate Bautista Agut on his win shortly afterwards.

Offner and Weisbourne bat first

However, Austria is still represented in the highlights of the European clay court season. Sebastian Offner qualified directly for the main competition. Following his very unfortunate opening defeat at the ATP 250 in Marrakesh on Thursday night, the Styrian (ATP 47) will now meet Brett Daniel Evans (ATP 42) for the first time in his debut at Monte Carlo Country Club. In the doubles competition, last year's national finalists Sam Weisburn and Roman Arneaudo once again received a wild card. The Viennese player (ATP Doubles 51) and local champion Monaco (ATP Doubles 58) will compete with Frenchman Ugo Humbert (ATP Doubles 1276), No. 14 in the world singles rankings, and the 37-year-old, who It starts with protected ranking veteran Fabrice Martin (ATP double 72).