VIENNA, October 27, 2019
Playing at the Erste Bank Open for the 10th straight year, Dominic Thiem has clinched his first title in Vienna. The top seed of the ATP 500 event fought past his good friend Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in Sunday’s singles final.
In front of packed stands inside the Wiener Stadthalle, Thiem converted four of his eight break point chances to become the first Austrian to claim the championship since Jürgen Melzer earned his second consecutive Vienna title in 2010 by winning an all-Austrian final against Andreas Haider-Maurer.
WHAT a wonderful moment in Vienna.
The match point for @ThiemDomi who has secured his first title at the @ErsteBankOpen 🏆
🎥:@TennisTV pic.twitter.com/frvPvvCXDd
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 27, 2019
“It was a surreal week. I have had some trouble to deliver my best tennis in front of my home crowd over the past years and now I have won both titles in Austria,” said Thiem, who became the first player this season to clinch five ATP Tour singles titles, including wins on home soil in Kitzbühel and Vienna.
Ram/Salisbury clinch doubles title
Earlier in the day, US-American Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury from Great Britain clinched the doubles title. The No. 4 seeds defeated the tournament’s top seeds Lukasz Kubot from Poland and Brazilian Marcelo Melo 6-4, 6-7(5), 10-5 in one hour and 47 minutes.
Ram and Salisbury, who won last year’s Vienna tournament alongside countryman Neal Skupski, receive 500 ATP Doubles Ranking points and split €149,010 in prize money. Kubot and Melo gain 300 points and share €72,950.
Thiem helps to set new record attendance
“With 66,350 visitors, we saw a 10 per cent increase compared to the previous year. We were sold out on five days. The tournament has gone well in recent years, even when Dominic didn’t go deep. But with his successes and his reputation, he is now also contributing massively to ticket sales,” said tournament director Herwig Straka, who also took over Thiem’s management in May this year.
