Defending French Open men’s singles champion Stan Wawrinka and the in-form Dominic Thiem gave themselves a huge boost ahead of the 2016 French Open by winning titles in Geneva and Nice respectively on Saturday.
For the 31-year-old Wawrinka, the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open is his first claycourt title of the season and his first ever at home. And it did not come easy. After clinching the first set, 6-4, the top seed and World No. 4 was trailing the third seed Marin Cilic by a break in the second set.
But the Swiss bounced back when the 2014 US Open winner was serving for the set at 5-3 and forced a tie-break. The Croat earned as many as five set points in the breaker but Wawrinka’s determination saw him through for a 6-4, 7-6(11) win in 1 hour 58 minutes.
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This is the two-time Grand Slam champion’s 14th career title and his third title of the year after triumphs early on in the year at Chennai and Dubai.
“It’s a dream come true to be able to win a title in Switzerland, after all these tournaments,” Wawrinka said after his victory.
Thiem defends Nice title
In a battle between two of the most talented youngsters, the 22-year-old Dominic Thiem reigned supreme 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 over the 19-year-old Alexander Zverev to successfully defend the Open de Nice Cote d’Azur title on Saturday.
For the in-form Thiem, whom many have picked as the dark horse for the Roland Garros crown, this is his third win of the season after victories at Buenos Aires and Acapulco. Overall, this is his sixth career title.
He is now just one match win short of matching the World No. 1 Novak Djokovic for the season, who has racked up 37 wins in 2016 so far.
It was, however, the younger player who had the brighter start of the two. Zverev broke Thiem for a 4-2 lead but could not hold on to it for a long time as the Austrian broke back. The German’s problems were compounded by a nosebleed after which he conceded the set 4-6.
Thiem made a fast start to the second set as he raced out to a 2-0 lead. But Zverev broke back and managed to level the contest as the top seed somewhat lost his focus.
The deciding set was all Thiem as the World No. 15 went on a game-winning spree to take the win in 1 hour 39 minutes.
