The weather in Rio de Janeiro refuses to cooperate, so the schedule was once again limited at the Rio Open on Wednesday. However, three big names were still in action, all suffering different fates. Here’s what happened on a rainy day three in Rio.
Results
The first match of the day was the final match of the first round, as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga looked to get his campaign underway. However, the Frenchman’s poor run of form this month on the clay continued, as he was ousted by local wildcard Thiago Monteiro 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Monteiro came of flying on serve, dominating the first set only losing five points on serve, and dominated Tsonga’s serve to claim the opener. Tsonga returned the favor in the second set, but could not keep up the momentum, surrendering the lone break in the third set to bow out in the first round. Check out our complete recap.
Fabio Fognini, last year’s runner-up, suffered a major disappointment when he was forced to withdraw from his second round match against Daniel Gimeno-Traver. The seventh seed was leading by a set, although trailing by a break in the second, when an abdominal injury forced him to pull out of the match. The first set was wild, with both men grabbing multiple breaks of serve. In the entire first set, Gimeno-Traver won less than half the points on his own serve, including only two of his second serve points. The poor results on serve allowed Fognini three breaks in the opener. The Italian’s serve was not much better, as he was broken twice, but he limited the damage enough to claim the opening set. But the Spaniard took control in the second set. He broke early and saved both break points against his own serve to lead 3-1, at which point Fognini retired with the injury.
The only seed to survive on Wednesday was fifth seed Dominic Thiem. It was not easy for the Buenos Aires champion, but he managed to keep his nerve to defeat Diego Schwartzman 7-5, 7-5. The first set was tight, as the men traded breaks and found themselves even late in the set. Despite struggling on his second serve, Thiem dominated when his first serve landed in, only dropping three of those points in the set. He broke Schwartzman late to grab the opening set. The young Austrian seemed well on his way to victory when he raced out to a 3-0 lead in the second set. But his Argentinian opponent responded by winning the next four games to lead 4-3. Thiem was not discouraged, as he continued to press and would break twice more, including another late break to seal the tight victory in an hour and 42 minutes.
The weather reports call for more rain tomorrow, but hopefully more second round matches will be completed, including top seed Rafael Nadal, and defending champion David Ferrer.