Rio de Janeiro: The Rio Open witnessed the first shock of the tournament as top seed Dominic Thiem was defeated 3-6, 3-6 by Laslo Derje in the first round here, Tuesday.
Winner here in 2017, Thiem served five double faults in a loss that handed Derje his first ever victory against a top 10 player in his career.
“He played a bit worse than normally I think, to be honest,” Derje said. “But I had a great day. I felt the ball really well, hitting well from the baseline and then attacking well when it was time for that. The biggest win in my career so I’m really happy right now,” added the Serbian
Another upset saw third seed Marco Cecchinato fall victim to Slovenian tennis star Aljaz Bedene going down 5-7, 6-7(1-6).
Cecchinato who won the Argentina Open title last week could not reproduce the same form and the unseeded but determined Bedene took full advantage of it.
Agencies