Tennis – Thiem beat Martire in the first round of Estoril

The Lower Austrian, who had new wrist problems, prevailed on clay against German Maximilian Marterer 6:1,6:7(3),6:4. In the round of 16, he will face veteran Richard Gasquet, who is a lucky loser.

Thiem left no doubt in the first set with a strong performance against Marterer, who was very flawed to begin with and has yet to win a match at ATP level in 2024. The former world No. 3 earned a surprise break in the second round to make it 1: 2. Thiem stuck with it, pulling the second half back to 4:4, but scored just three points in a completely failed tiebreaker.

In the third set, Thiem broke his opponent, who was ranked 97th in the world rankings, right from the start, but got the break immediately. The new break from the 2020 US Open winner, who was now acting more confident again, made it 3-2 decisive. With the score 5:3 and Marterer serving, Thiem missed the first point of the match. Immediately after that he served confidently and won the third duel with Martire.

“I came here early to prepare and it paid off. The first set was great, and Max played better in the second set, so it was an open match. I'm really happy that it worked out well for me,” Thiem said during the winner's interview. Thiem discovered that he would not be playing against Spaniard No. 4 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, but against Gasquet, who was the lucky loser. The Frenchman failed to qualify, but after Davidovich Fokina withdrew due to a toothache, the 37-year-old has now reached the round of 16 directly. Thiem has played against Gasquet five times so far and has won the last three meetings.

The Lower Austrian recently suffered a bitter second round defeat to Lukas Neumayer at the Challenger in Zadar. It was only later that he reported the return of pain in his wrist, which had been injured since 2021.