Argentina Open: Dominic Thiem earns first win of 2023 season

BUENOS AIRES: After a disappointing start of the season at the Australian Open, Dominic Thiem of Austria registered his first win of 2023, beating Slovakia's Alex Molcan 7-6(4), 6-3 in the Round-of-32 of the Argentina Open, here.

Former World No. 3 will next face Peruvian qualifier Juan Pablo Varillas, who earned a 6-2, 7-5 win against Joao Sousa earlier on Tuesday. Third seedLorenzo Musettiwill be a potential third-round opponent at the ATP 250 tournament.

"I won my first match of the season against a very good opponent. I stayed focussed throughout the whole match, as well in the difficult moments. So I'm happy and I'm trying to focus fully on the second round now," the 2020 US Open champion was quoted as saying by the ATP tour.

Thiem and Molcan traded breaks from 5-5 in the opening set, with Thiem racing to a 5/1 lead in the tie-break after failing to serve out the set. The 29-year-old Austrian did not face a break point in set two as he improved to 12-1 with the victory.

Thiem won the Buenos Aires title in 2016 and 2018. But the Austrian had a forgetful start to the season as he crashed out of the Australian Open in the first round after suffering a defeat at the hands of Andrey Rublev.