ATP Rio de Janeiro: Dominic Thiem opens against Felipe Meligeni
Dominic Thiem is back in the tournament at the ATP 500 tournament in Rio de Janeiro. At the start of the clay court event, the top seeded Austrian meets the Brazilian Felipe Meligeni.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Feb 15, 2020, 10:28 pm
"I want to be number three in the world," said Dominic Thiem ahead of the ATP 500 event in Rio de Janeiro. A tournament victory would make this wish a reality, but for the title, the 26-year-old has to clear five stumbling blocks.
The clay court tournament kicks off for Thiem against Felipe Meligeni. The Brazilian is equipped with a WIldcard in Rio de Janeiro and is number 170 in the world rankings. Thiem has never played against the 21-year-old. If they won, the top seeded Lichtenwörther would then face Jaume Munar or Salvatore Caruso.
In the quarterfinals, Thiem could face Casper Ruud as the first opponent to be seeded. In the semifinals, it would go against Guido Pella or Laslo Djere according to the program, before Dusan Lajovic, who was placed second after the cancellations of Matteo Berrettini and Diego Schwartzman, could wait in the final. Cristian Garin and Borna Coric are also in the lower half of the tableau.
In the previous year, the Austrian had to defeat the eventual tournament winner Laslo Djere in two sets. Otherwise Thiem has good memories of the event, as he was able to secure the title in 2017, for example. This year, the fourth in the world ranking naturally hopes for a similarly good result .