Thiem Notches 250th Match Win In Hamburg

Dominic Thiem recorded the 250th match win of his career on Tuesday at the Hamburg European Open by beating 2016 runner-up Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-3, 7-6(3) in one hour and 41 minutes. The top-seeded Austrian, who came within one point of taking a 4-0 lead in the first set, has now beaten Cuevas on three occasions this year — including at the Argentina Open and at Roland Garros. He next faces Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics in the second round.

Thiem is now 24-10 on the season, having bounced back from a Wimbledon first round exit (l. to Querrey). The 25-year-old lifted his first ATP Masters 1000 trophy at the BNP Paribas Open (d. Federer) in March and at the 500-level Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell (d. Medvedev) in April. Last month, he finished as runner-up to Rafael Nadal for the second consecutive year in the Roland Garros final.

“I wish that the grass court season would have been longer,” said Thiem. “I also love this surface, but it was only one match unfortunately. So, I hope that I can do it better next year. I’m back on clay for two weeks and the two last weeks of the year, so I’ll try to enjoy them as much as possible.”

Fourth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili began his quest to retain the Hamburg crown with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Bolivian qualifier Hugo Dellien in 67 minutes. He will now prepare to challenge Cordoba Open champion Juan Ignacio Londero, last week’s Swedish Open finalist, who won 82 per cent of his first service points to beat Spanish lucky loser Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 6-2 in 66 minutes.

Richard Gasquet, the 2005 runner-up, set up a clash against fellow Frenchman Jeremy Chardy after beating Sumit Nagal, an Indian qualifier, 6-2, 7-6(3) in 90 minutes.