HAMBURG, July 24, 2018

Dominic Thiem has returned to clay courts for the first time since his run to the Roland Garros final to open his title bid at the German Open presented by Kampmann on Tuesday. The top seed of the ATP 500 event in Hamburg defeated French qualifier Corentin Moutet 6-4, 6-2.

The World No. 8 from Austria capitalized on five of his seven break point chances to secure victory in one hour and 22 minutes.

Sometimes you just gotta tweener…#GOTC18 @moutet99 pic.twitter.com/JSAmNoJGLt

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) 24. Juli 2018

Next up for Thiem will be John Millman of Australia, who beat Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany 7-5, 6-3. The pair met in the German Bundesliga last weekend with Thiem winning the tie-break of the final set.

Philipp Kohlschreiber contested his first match at Hamburg since retiring from last year’s semi-final against compatriot Florian Mayer due to a left leg adductor strain but lost in the first round to Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 7-5, 1-6, 6-4.

The 26-year-old qualifier from Tbilisi won eight point less than the German but left the court as winner after two hours and three minutes. Basilashvili will next play Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay.