Impressive Thiem beats Bublik to earn first US Open win since lifting the title three years ago
Dominic Thiem won against Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 and will face the winner of the match between Argentinian Pedro Cachin and American Ben Shelton in the next round
Austrian Dominic Thiem won against Kazakh Alexander Bublik, the No 25 seed, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to move into the second round of the US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.
The former world No 3 impressed throughout his opening match on Grandstand, with his trademark one-handed backhand finding consistent depth and power, evoking memories of the Austrian at his majestic best.
Thiem made the first move, breaking in the sixth game after some loose serving from Bublik. The Kazakh broke straight back, before the Austrian restored his advantage in the eighth after another erratic service game from Bublik.
Following three consecutive breaks of serve, Thiem then steadied the ship with a hold at 5-3 to successfully serve out the opener.
The second and third went as smoothly as the first for the 2020 champion, apart from a wobble when serving out the match at 5-2 in the third, when Bublik gave himself a lifeline by breaking the Austrian.
However, there were no repeats of the same mistake from Thiem as he confidently served out the match at the second time of asking for a comprehensive straight sets win over a tricky opponent.
Thiem, ranked No 81, will face American Ben Shelton next.
New York (Grand Slam), other first-round matches (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, hard, USD 44.700.000, most recent results first):
- Carlos Alcaraz vs. Dominik Koepfer
- Yannick Hanfmann vs. Jannik Sinner
- Taro Daniel vs. Gael Monfils
- Timofey Skatov vs. Alex De Minaur
- Yibing Wu vs. Dusan Lajovic
- Nicolas Moreno De Alboran vs. Lorenzo Sonego
- Daniel Elahi Galan vs. Daniel Evans
- Lloyd Harris vs. Guido Pella
- Emil Ruusuvuori vs. Andrey Rublev
- Marc-Andrea Huesler vs. Hubert Hurkacz
- Radu Albot vs. Jack Draper
- Stan Wawrinka vs. Yoshihito Nishioka
- Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Otto Virtanen
- Botic van de Zandschulp vs. Jordan Thompson
- Facundo Diaz Acosta vs. John Isner
- Sebastian Baez vs. Borna Coric
- Thanasi Kokkinakis vs. Yu Hsiou Hsu
- Karen Khachanov vs. Michael Mmoh
- Albert Ramos-Vinolas vs. Alex Michelsen
- Alex Molcan vs. Grigor Dimitrov
- Andy Murray vs. Corentin Moutet
- Daniel Altmaier vs. Constant Lestienne
- Alexander Shevchenko vs. Cameron Norrie
- Daniil Medvedev vs. Attila Balazs
- Diego Schwartzman vs. Arthur Rinderknech
- Ugo Humbert vs. Matteo Berrettini
- Nicolas Jarry vs. Luca Van Assche
- James Duckworth vs. Felipe Meligeni Alves
- Max Purcell vs. Christopher O’Connell
- Alexander Zverev vs. Aleksandar Vukic
- Jason Kubler vs. Matteo Arnaldi
- Tallon Griekspoor vs. Arthur Fils
- Alexandre Muller vs. Novak Djokovic
- Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Milos Raonic
- SoonWoo Kwon vs. Christopher Eubanks
- Bernabe Zapata Miralles vs. Ethan Quinn
- Sho Shimabukuro vs. Hugo Gaston
- Hugo Dellien vs. Borna Gojo
- Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Mackenzie McDonald
- Quentin Halys vs. Benjamin Bonzi
- Dominic Stricker vs. Alexei Popyrin
- Jiri Vesely vs. Enzo Couacaud
- Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Juan Pablo Varillas
- Aslan Karatsev vs. Jiri Lehecka
- Roman Safiullin vs. Marco Cecchinato
- Tommy Paul vs. Stefano Travaglia
- Marton Fucsovics vs. Sebastian Korda
- Laslo Djere vs. Brandon Nakashima
- Zachary Svajda vs. Francisco Cerundolo
- Steve Johnson vs. Taylor Fritz
- Learner Tien vs. Frances Tiafoe
- Jakub Mensik vs. Gregoire Barrere
- Lorenzo Musetti vs. Titouan Droguet
- Rinky Hijikata vs. Pavel Kotov
- Casper Ruud vs. Emilio Nava: monday
- Roberto Carballes Baena vs. Holger Rune: monday
- Marcos Giron vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina: monday
- Pedro Cachin vs. Ben Shelton: monday
- Ilya Ivashka vs. Juan Manuel Cerundolo: monday
- Sebastian Ofner vs. Nuno Borges: monday
- Richard Gasquet vs. Fabian Marozsan: monday
- Adrian Mannarino vs. Yosuke Watanuki: monday
- J.J. Wolf vs. Zhizhen Zhang: monday