Thiago Monteiro of Brazil defeated Dominic Thiem of Austria 6-1 3-6 7-6 in a first-round match of the Rio Open on Tuesday. The match lasted for more almost three hours as the 28-year-old Thiago Monteiro prevailed after a tough fight.
For Thiem, it was yet another disappointment as he is repeatedly finding it difficult to make it go deeper in the tournaments. However, the 29-year-old Austrian will take heart from the fact that he did not give up without a fight on the day.
How Thiago Monteiro defeated Dominic Thiem in Rio
Monteiro’s forehand caused a lot of trouble to Thiem:
Thiago Monteiro caused a lot of problems to the 29-year-old Thiem with his forehand containing a fair amount of top spin. The Brazilian pinned Thiem back to a corner of the court with his crosscourt forehand and then pulled the trigger by going down-the-line.
Monteiro broke Thiem in the very first game of the match and then broke him again in the first set to walk away with it. Thiem struggled to deal with the Brazilian’s forceful forehand, as the latter hit a few winners off it.
Monteiro moved well to foil Thiem’s attempt at a comeback victory:
Thiem, to his credit, bounced back well in the second set. He broke the Brazilian in the fourth game and then held his serve to race to a 4-1 lead. He then maintained his lead to win the set. The Austrian’s inside-out forehand did a lot of damage in the second set.
The final set was a very closely contested one and went into the tie-break finally. Thiem tried to stun the Brazilian with his drop shots, but the latter moved exceptionally well to retrieve the ball in time, including once while being 5-2 up in the tie-break. It was a good victory for Monteiro in front of his home crowd and he will play his second-round match on Thursday.
Main Photo Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports
