Lob and Smash
Fansided

Dominic Thiem Survives Meeting With Jaume Munar

By Harry Floyd

MONTE-CARLO, MONACO - APRIL 19: Dominic Thiem of Austria serves against Novak Djokovic of Serbia during day five of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters at Monte-Carlo Sporting Club on April 19, 2018 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
MONTE-CARLO, MONACO - APRIL 19: Dominic Thiem of Austria serves against Novak Djokovic of Serbia during day five of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters at Monte-Carlo Sporting Club on April 19, 2018 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Dominic Thiem emerges on top after a hard-fought opener at the Barcelona Open. He defeats Jaume Munar in order to advance.

Austrian tennis star Dominic Thiem survives a hard-fought meeting with Jaume Munar of Spain. The third seeded Thiem takes down the 20-year-old after winning a tough opening set tiebreak. He does cruise through the second set of the match in order to advance, but it was not without difficulty in the first. Thiem defeats Munar, going 7-6 (8) 6-1.

Last week at the Monte-Carlo Masters, Rafael Nadal knocked Thiem out of the quarterfinals. Nadal would ultimately go on and win yet another title at the Masters 1000 event. He is the defending champion and a ten-time winner in men’s singles at the Barcelona Open and must be considered the favorite moving forward. Another former champion in Kei Nishikori sees an upset early on in the action. Thiem could make a deep run this week.

Related Story: Top 10 All-Time Men's Tennis

Currently, the 24-year-old Austrian is the world No. 7 in men’s singles tennis. Close to his career high of the No. 4 ranking, Thiem is looking for a strong run of tennis here in the middle months of the 2018 ATP World Tour. He does already have one singles title on the year, winning earlier in Buenos Aires. Just ahead of him in the rankings are some strong players in Juan Martin del Potro, Alexander Zverev, Marin Cilic, and Grigor Dimitrov. At the top are Nadal and Roger Federer. With the Swiss great taking some time away from the courts, Nadal ought to remain on top throughout the entire clay court season with ease. He is, after all, the King of Clay.

Dominic Them faces qualifier Jozef Kovalík next this week.

Next: 2018 French Open Favorites

Second seed Dimitrov wins his opener withe ease at the Barcelona Open. With several top players in men’s singles tennis in action this week, the path to a title will not get any easier for Dominic Thiem or others. Early round play is already setting the 500 series tournament up for a thrilling breakdown. Serbian great Novak Djokovic sees an early upset at the event as he continues to make his return from injury. Stay tuned to see how Thiem and others fare in their upcoming matches.

Home/ATP