Dominic Thiem wins Barcelona Open
Sunday 28 April 2019 19:28, UK
A dominant Dominic Thiem proved too good for Daniil Medvedev as he eased to victory in the final of the Barcelona Open on Sunday.
The Austrian cruised to a fine 6-4 6-0 win on the red clay at the Real Club de Tenis for his second title of the year, adding to his triumph in Indian Wells last month.
Thiem, who defeated Roger Federer in the Californian desert to claim his maiden Masters 1000 title, beat Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals here to become the first player other than Novak Djokovic to defeat the Spaniard on clay four times.
"It's such an honour to win this tournament, looking at all the names who have won it I'm very happy and proud that my name is also there now," said Thiem, who prevented Nadal in his bid to win a record-extending 12th title in Barcelona.
"I had some troubles at the beginning with the slice, then it got better. That's the only thing you can do against him and I'm happy that I made it work."
The 23-year-old Russian started well by taking a 3-0 lead in the first set, but he was never in contention again after Thiem got into a groove as he produced a number of scorching winners, including a sublime drop shot, to win four successive games and go 4-3 up.
Medvedev struggled to respond and called on the physio to get some treatment on his shoulder but that intervention failed to get him going and Thiem easily served out for the set.
The Austrian faced little resistance in the second, using his drop shots to devastating effect to wipe out seventh seed Medvedev.
Thiem didn't lose a set during his title campaign in Barcelona. It was a 13th career singles title for the 25-year-old, his ninth on clay.
Italy's Matteo Berrettini came back from a set down to beat Serbia's Filip Krajinovic 4-6 6-3 6-1 to win the Hungarian Open.
British brothers Ken and Neal Skupski claimed the men's doubles title in Budapest with victory over Marcus Daniell and Wesley Koolhof 6-3 6-4.
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