With points to defend, Dominic Thiem digs in for opening Antwerp win

Dominic Thiem and Stan Wawrinka won their respective openers at ATP 250 events in Antwerp and Stockholm on Tuesday.

Thiem dug deep to avoid a first-round exit. Down a set and a break, and later two points from losing, the Austrian battled past Luca Nardi, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2, after two hours and 28 minutes. In the final set, Thiem did not face a break point and capitalized on two of three opportunities to get his 17th tour-level victory of the season (versus 20 defeats).

“I needed a little bit to adjust to the surface, to the whole game. I was a set and a break down, and then I was able to turn it around,” Thiem said during an on-court interview. “Played a great tie-break, which got close at the end again. And then the third set was really good. Very happy.”

The 30-year-old needs a strong showing this week. Thiem dropped 14 spots to No. 86 on the latest ATP rankings after the bulk of his semifinal points from Gijon came off following a second-round loss at the Bratislava 2 challenger event. He has another 90 points to defend from Antwerp, having advanced to the final four here last year before being edged out by Sebastian Korda in a decisive tie-break.

As for Wawrinka, he defeated Borna Gojo, 7-5, 6-4, at the Nordic Open. The three-time major winner improved to 26-19 on the season in setting a second-round contest with Tomas Machac.

Wawrinka is making his first appearance in Stockholm since 2011. The 38-year-old was joined in the second round by J.J. Wolf, who ousted fifth seed Sebastian Baez, 7-6 (5), 6-2. Seventh seed Christopher Eubanks and eighth seed Daniel Evans were also knocked out in their openers.

Holger Rune and Gael Monfils headline Wednesday’s night session.