ATP Rome: Thiem and Melzer win first round in doubles
Dominic Thiem and Jürgen Melzer won their first match at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome. The two Austrians now meet the top seeded pair Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: May 14, 2019, 05:58 pm
Thiem and Melzer, however, had a lot of trouble on the packed Campo 3 against the local heroes Filippo Baldi and Andrea Pellegrino. After a playing time of 73 minutes, the Austrians won 6: 3, 3: 6 and 10: 7.
The Foro Italico was also very well attended on Tuesday, the many fans naturally sought out the games of local players as the first point of contact. Baldi and Pellegrino, who had received a wildcard from the organizer, made the first break to 3: 1, Thiem and Melzer countered with five game wins in a row. In the second round, however, there was no comeback, the Italians equalized. In the decision, Melzer and Thiem ran ahead and were never in danger of losing the match in the end.
In round two, the task is now even bigger: It's against Lukas Kubot and Marcelo Melo. The Pole and his Brazilian partner had beaten Thiem and Melzer in Monte Carlo a few weeks ago.