Madrid (Spain), Apr 27 (IANS): Continuing with his impressive record at the Madrid Open, Dominic Thiem moved past Briton Kyle Edmund 6-4, 6-1 to set up a second-round clash against Stefanos Tsitsipas, here on Thursday.
The former World No. 3 has reached at least the semifinals in four of his past five appearances in the Spanish capital and he looked in control throughout his first-round clash against Edmund.
The Austrian won 86 per cent (24/28) of his first-serve points and remained strong under pressure, saving all four break points he faced to advance after 84 minutes and improve to 2-0 in his ATP head-to-head series against the 28-year-old Edmund.
"It was not easy in the beginning. The first match on the centre court and I was mainly practising outside, so it is a different feeling," Thiem was quoted as saying by ATP Tour.
"I have known Kyle since we were juniors. He has been a tough opponent since my young days, so I went in with a lot of respect. I had some crucial moments in the first set when I saved the break points and then I released a little bit and it got better and better," he added.
With his victory, Thiem improved to 17-7 at the clay-court tournament, while he has climbed two spots to No. 91 in the ATP Live Rankings.
"I love this court, I have great memories and played some great matches here. Results-wise this is my best [ATP] Masters 1000 tournament by far, so it is time to work on that reputation. Once I was a very tough guy to beat on clay and it is not the case right now, but I am feeling that I am getting better and back to shape," Thiem said.
Earlier this month, the 29-year-old advanced to the quarterfinals at ATP 250 clay-court events in Estoril and Munich. Thiem has often produced his best tennis on clay, winning 10 of his 17 tour-level titles on the surface.
Thiem will next play fourth-seed Tsitsipas. The Austrian leads the Greek 5-3 in their ATP head-to-head series.
"I am looking forward to that one a lot. I like him a lot. He is an unbelievable player, I like watching his matches. He is very elegant. We've had some great matchups," Thiem said when asked about facing Tsitsipas.