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French Open 2020: Dominic Thiem Defeats Marin Cilic To Reach Round Two

By BBC
Tennis French Open 2020: Dominic Thiem Defeats Marin Cilic To Reach Round Two
SEP 28, 2020 LISTEN

US Open champion Dominic Thiem eased into the French Open second round with a 6-4 6-3 6-3 win over Croatia's former world number three Marin Cilic.

The Austrian, 27, took the upper hand in the match when he broke in the ninth game on his way to a one-set lead.

Cilic, who made 39 unforced errors, was flustered by Thiem's defence, suffering two more breaks in the second set.

Two poor volleys in the sixth game of the third earned the two-time runner-up the crucial break en route to victory.

The third seed will play American qualifier Jack Sock in the next round.

Thiem said he was happy he managed a successful transition from playing on hard courts in the heat of New York two weeks ago to performing on clay in damp 13C conditions in Paris.

"I'm from Austria so know how it is to play in cold conditions," he added. "When I was in the juniors I played in 10 degree weather."

There were two surprises in the early afternoon matches, with 14th seed Fabio Fognini and Canada's 19th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime dumped out of the competition.

Italian Fognini, 33, suffered a 7-5 3-6 7-6 (7-1) 6-0 defeat by Kazakh former top-50 player Mikhail Kukushkin. And Auger-Aliassime, 20, who reached the fourth round at Flushing Meadows, lost 7-5 6-3 6-3 to Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka.

Champion Rafael Nadal, going for a 13th title and bidding to equal Roger Federer's record of 20 Grand Slam singles crowns, opens his campaign against Belarusian Egor Gerasimov later on Philippe Chatrier.

Russian fourth seed Daniil Medvedev, a US Open semi-finalist this month, faces Marton Fucsovics of Hungary on Suzanne Lenglen.

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