French Open Day 6: Dominic Thiem advances, Simona Halep to face Iga witek in fourth round

A mediocre effort by Dominic Thiem saw Norway’s Casper Ruud go down in a 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 game.

The US Open champion struggled with his serve in the first set, giving six break points. However the Austrian broke his 21-year-old opponents’ serve six times and delivered 32 winners in the meanwhile.

Ruud who could become the second Norwegian player to reach the fourth round of the Roland Garros, the first being his father Christian, has won more tour-level claycourt matches than anyone else in 2020. However, his loss to Thiem has opened the possibility of a tete a tete between the Austrian and Stan Wawrinka.

“I’m very happy. It was a great match, I didn’t do any mistakes. Casper is a really great player, very attractive to play, I think there were many good rallies, it was a good match from both of us,” Dominic Thiem said post the win.

On the other side, Simona Halep rightfully completed her 2019 revenge when she sent 19-year-old Anisimova home. The Romanian was at her best and completed 6-0 6-1 straight sets. Simona will now play Iga Swiatek, who beat Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-2.

Rafael Nadal will be seen locking horns with Italy’s Stefano Travaglia later in the evening. The defending champion has been skeptical about his gameplay so far and will get into the game to avoid a big upset.

In other games played on Friday, Elina Svitolina and Nadia Podoroska advanced to the next round.