Dominic Thiem gets first ATP Tour win of season against Maximilian Marterer to set up Richard Gasquet clash

Dominic Thiem bounced back from a poor string of results to overcome Maximilian Marterer and reach the second round of the Estoril Open in Portugal.

Last year’s quarter-finalist Thiem, who has been struggling with a wrist injury lately, beat his German opponent 6-1 6-7(3) 6-4 after a two-hour and 17-minute battle.

It is Thiem’s first ATP Tour main-draw win this year and sets up a clash with fellow former top-10 player Richard Gasquet.

Thiem started electrically against Marterer with back-to-back breaks to take a 4-0 lead, before emphatically sealing the set with a third break.

The second set was much tighter. In the third game, Thiem lost serve as Marterer took advantage, but the 2020 US Open winner broke back at 4-4.

A tie-break was required to split the pair, and Marterer came out on top after Thiem lost four points with the ball in hand while Marterer only lost two.

Both players were broken in the first two games of the deciding set as the match levelled out, but Thiem crucially broke again in the fifth game for 3-2 and Marterer was not able to recover.

It was an important victory for Thiem in terms of his form, having lost his previous two matches against players outside of the top 200 in the ATP rankings.

As the top seed, he was beaten by world No. 300 Daniel Michalski in the first round of the Kiskut Open in Hungary, before he lost to world No. 210 Lukas Neumayer at the Zadar Challenger, both in straight sets.

Elsewhere in Estoril, sixth seed Miomir Kecmanovic was knocked out by Roberto Bautista Agut, who won 6-1 7-5.

Despite kicking his encounter off with a bagel, Lucas Pouille was beaten 0-6 7-6(6) 6-3 by home favourite Nuno Borges.

On Tuesday, Brit Jan Choinski is in action against Joao Fonseca and seventh seed Gael Monfils will take on Henrique Rocha.

Top seed Casper Ruud and third seed Lorenzo Musetti get their campaigns underway on Wednesday having received buys into the second round.