Former US open winner Dominic Thiem began making up for last week’s Paris Masters disappointment as he took his second chance in France with an opening defeat of French lucky loser Matteo Martineau 6-4, 6-2 on Monday at the ATP event in France.
The Austrian excelled in the Germanist enclave as the one-time world No. 3 reached the second round with a resounding win after exiting in the Masters second round last week in Paris.
Thiem won the local title in 2016 on his debut here; his latest win took 84 minutes.
Thiem is on a roll as he struggles to regain his pre-injury form from 2021, with wins in eight of his past nine Tour first-round matches.
His last trophy came at the 2020 US Open, played in an empty stadium due to Covid.
Thiem moved into a match with France’s Ugo Humbert.
Holder Lorenzo Sonego advanced to the second round over American Marcos Giron Holder 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
The Italian who stands 8-2 here, needed two and a quarter hours to advance.
