Under pressure early from Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Tuesday at the Gijon Open, Andy Murray found a moment of magic to trigger a stunning turnaround at the ATP 250 event in Spain.

Murray pulled off a difficult forehand volley on the stretch at 2-4, 30/40 to avoid going a double break down in the first set of his first-round clash against the Spanish sixth seed. It proved a pivotal moment in the pair’s maiden ATP Head2Head meeting, as the Briton held serve for 3-4 before raising his level to claim 10 of the next 13 games and storm to a 7-5, 6-2 victory.

The former World No. 1, who is competing as a wild card at the ATP 250 event in north-west Spain, will take on Pedro Cachin or qualifier Alexey Vatutin in the second round.

More to follow…

Alexander Bublik added another win to his impressive indoor record in 2022 on Tuesday at the UniCredit Firenze Open, but this one carried a little extra meaning for the Kazakh.

The seventh seed’s 7-5, 6-2 victory against Cristian Garin at the ATP 250 event in Florence was his 100th tour-level victory. Bublik fired 37 winners and broke the Chilean’s serve three times to notch a Tour-leading 14th indoor win of the season.

“I played a good match, I stayed solid, I served well,” said Bublik after his 87-minute triumph. “The conditions fit me well, the court is quite fast, so I’m pleased with my game and let’s see what goes on after.”

As he celebrates reaching the 100-win milestone at the age of 25, Bublik emphasised his determination to continue working hard as he bids to improve on his career-high of No. 30 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The Kazakh achieved that position after lifting his maiden ATP Tour trophy in Montpellier in February.

“I do believe you must improve every day, and improve everything, so I wouldn’t find a specific thing that I need to improve,” said Bublik. “But I think the overall game, if I can stay solid, stay disciplined, I think we can talk about something bigger.”

Bublik’s next test in Florence is a second-round matchup against Corentin Moutet, who came through a tough three-setter against #NextGenATP Italian Flavio Cobolli on Monday night.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mikael Ymer cruised into the second round with a 6-1, 6-2 triumph against Tim van Rijthoven.

The highest-ranked Swede in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Ymer enjoyed the biggest win of his career in mid-September against then-World No. 11 Jannik Sinner in the Davis Cup Finals Group Stage. He backed up that result by reaching his seventh tour-level quarter-final on the indoor courts in Metz, and the 24-year-old will seek to make it eight quarter-finals when he meets fifth seed Aslan Karatsev in the second round in Florence.

If you are a Dominic Thiem fan, Vienna just became even more interesting.

Last week, Thiem visited Madame Tussauds Vienna — a popular tourist attraction where people pose for pictures with life-size wax figures of their favourite celebrities — to reveal a wax figure of himself. 

“What’s better than one Dominic Thiem? Two Dominic Thiems 😎👬🏻,” Thiem wrote on Instagram. “Madame Tussauds is world-famous for its wax figures, and so it is an honour to now be part of this great collection myself. After all the hard work from the whole team at Madame Tussauds, I was very excited to see the final result, and I can say my twin turned out very well. 😉”

^{Photo Credit: Madame Tussauds Vienna/Christoph Kleinsasser}
Thiem in January 2021 participated in Vienna in a three-hour sitting, during which 250 measurements of his head and body were recorded. There were also 180 photos taken from different angles to ensure that the wax figure would look as much like him as possible. He had to hold his position on a turntable with minimum movement throughout the process.

The figure is dressed in an actual kit the Austrian wore during the 2020 US Open, including a racquet he used en route to his first Grand Slam title. Lukas Rauscher, Marketing Manager of Madame Tussauds Vienna, was thrilled when the figure was unveiled.

“We are delighted that the wax figure of Dominic Thiem has finally arrived at Madame Tussauds Vienna. He was very often requested by our visitors and we are happy to finally make their dream come true,” Rauscher said. “Although he is in high demand, we are proud of the great collaboration we’ve had with his team and Dominic himself and the time he took for the sitting and the launch.”

The Thiem figure went through a rigorous process to which around 20 artists contributed. Typically a figure takes around six months to complete, but the Covid-19 pandemic caused a delay, which allowed the team to make sure the tennis star’s figure came out as well as possible.

The artists inserted each hair one by one, which took six weeks by itself. Thiem’s eyes were made with acrylic resin, with each eye’s iris painted on by hand, with silk threads to create the veins. Rather than using makeup to create Thiem’s skin complexion, oil paint was applied with a special brush-tapping technique. Everything came together to create Dominic Thiem 2.0.

“Being immortalised in wax is a huge milestone in someone’s career and Dominic has certainly achieved so much already at such a young age,” Rauscher said. “We can’t wait to see what lies ahead, he definitely has a very promising future. We are looking forward to seeing many happy selfies of our guests with his likeness.”