WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Dominic Thiem, playing in his first tournament on American soil since winning the 2020 U.S. Open, defeated top-seeded Grigor Dimitrov in the second round of the Winston-Salem Open after Dimitrov retired because of dizziness.
Dimitrov was leading the match 6-0, 2-4 at the time.
“That’s not the way I want to win a match, especially against Grigor,” Thiem said.
Thiem reached a career-high No. 3 in the world rankings in March of 2020 and remained in the top five until injuring his right wrist 14 months ago.
Maxime Cressy of the United States, the No. 4 seed, moved into the third round with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Australia’s James Duckworth, and fellow American Steve Johnson defeated No. 12 seed Pedro Martinez of Mexico 7-6 (2), 6-2.
Fifth-seeded Lorenzo Musetti from Italy was upset in the second round by France's Richard Gasquet 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-1, and No. 6 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili from Georgia fell to Brazil's Thiago Monteiro 6-4, 6-1.
Gasquet's countrymen Adrian Mannarino and Benjamin Bonzi also advanced with second-round wins, capping a big day for France. Mannarino defeated ninth-seeded Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland 6-4, 6-1, while the 10th-seeded Bonzi eliminated Germany's Peter Gojowczyk 6-4, 6-2.
Australia's Jack Draper and Jason Kubler also won, along with Serbia's Laslo Djere, who beat 16th-seeded Joao Sousa of Portugal 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5).
In doubles action, the No. 1 seeded team of Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic from Croatia advanced with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Ukrainian-Kazakhstani's Aleksandr Nedovyesov and Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi. However, second-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Austin Krajicek of the United States were ousted by Simone Bolelli of Italy and Marcelo Melo of Brazil 6-4, 7-6 (3).
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.