Serbia’s Laslo Djere upset 2017 Rio champion Dominic Thiem 6-3 6-3 in 80 minutes in the opening round at the Rio Open in Rio de Janeiro scoring the first win of his career against a top 10 player.
Djere converted five of his eight break points and dropped his serve twice to score the best win of his career.
Thiem earned an early break at 15 at the start of the match with a deep return, but he dropped serve at love in the next game. Djere broke serve again in the eighth game and closed out the opening set in the next game 6-3 after 43 minutes, when Thiem netted a return.
Djere went up an early break at the start of the second set and broke again in the seventh game to build up a 5-2 lead after a backhand error from Thiem. Thiem pulled one break back, when Djere was serving for the match, but the Serbian player closed out the match with a break at love in the ninth game with a forehand return.
Thiem dropped to a 3-4 win-loss record this season. In his previous appearances at the Rio Open he won the title in 2017 and never lost before the quarter final in 2016 and 2018.
“It was a great day. It was the biggest win in my career, so I am really happy right now. I hit the ball really well. He played a bit worse than normally I think. I had a great day. I hit the ball really well, hitting well from the baseline and then attacking well when it was time for that. This is my favourite surface. I know that I can play great tennis on clay”,said Djere.
Last week’s Buenos Aires champion Marco Cecchinato lost to Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene 7-5 7-6 (7-1) in a match delayed by rain. Bedene got an early break at 1-1, but he dropped serve in the next game with two double faults. Cecchinato took a 5-4 lead, but Bedene won 12 of the next 13 points to win the first set 7-5. Bedene went up a 3-1 lead in the second set after saving a break point. Cecchinato broke back in the 10th game to draw level to 5-5 and held his serve at 15, but he was not able to convert a set point at 6-5. Bedene cruised through to 7-1 in the tie-break.
Bedene will face Brazilian player Thiago Monteiro, who beat Portugal’s Thiago Monteiro 6-3 6-2.
Canadian Next Gen player Felix Auger Aliassime beat world number 16 Fabio Fognini 6-2 6-3. Auger Aliassime saved an early break point before breaking serve in the sixth game. The 18-year-old Canadian player rallied from 0-40 down to get a second break closing out the first set 6-3. Auger Aliassime went up a set and a break in the fourth game to open up a 4-1 lead. Fognini earned a break point in the seventh game but Auger Aliassine saved it for 5-2. Serving for the match in the eighth game Auger Aliassime faced two break points, but he held his serve at love to close out the second set 6-3 at deuce on his third match point.
“It’s at the top with my most memorable wins. You come here, you play the second seed, obviously you are not favoured. You just believe in your tennis, you believe in your game. You work for these wins”, said Auger Aliassime.
Norway’s Next Gen player Casper Ruud cruised past Carlos Berloq 6-1 6-2 in one hour and 28 minutes. Ruud broke serve at 15 in the second game and saved four break points in the next two service games to build up a 4-1 lead. Ruud broke serve in the seventh game, when Berloq hit forehand long, and closed out the first set at 5-1 with a good serve.
Ruud went up a double break ad held his next service games before firing four winners at 5-2 to close out the match.
Roberto Carballes Baena saved three match points at 3-6 in the tie-break of the third set to take a hard-fought 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (8-6) win after 2 hours and 59 minutes. The Spaniard won the final five points and sealed the tie-break with a service winner at 7-6.
