HEILBRONN, June 6, 2023
Dominic Thiem opened his title bid at the NECKARCUP with a 6-4, 6-4 first-round win over Kaichi Uchida from Japan. In front of a sold-out crowd with about 1,200 spectators on Center Court, the fourth seed from Austria, who entered the main draw of the ATP Challenger Tour 125 clay-court event in Heilbronn with a wild card, capitalized on three of his nine break-point chances to prevail after one hour and 21 minutes.
Gelungenes Debut beim #NECKARCUP 👏
Dominic Thiem 🇦🇹 erreicht die 2. Runde durch einen 6-4 6-4 Erfolg über Kaichi Uchida. #ATPChallenger #Heilbronn #WeltklasseTennisHautnah pic.twitter.com/aizR35dBPR
— NECKARCUP Heilbronn (@NeckarH) June 6, 2023
“The most important thing is that I won the match and got a chance to play the next match. Kaichi didn’t let me dominate the match, so I struggled. However, I served very well and was able to win through my service game in the end,” said Thiem.
Next up for the World No. 92 will be Spaniard Pedro Martinez Portero, who defeated Henri Squire from Germany 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 27 minutes.
Santillan upsets Cecchinato
Earlier in the day, Akira Santillan knocked out top seed Marco Cecchinato of Italy 7-5, 6-3. The 26-year-old qualifier from Australia, who was born in Tokyo, struck six aces and won 90 per cent of his first-service wins to seal victory in one hour and 21 minutes. Santillan will next oppose Jozef Kovalik of Slovakia.
Knocking out the top seed! 😲
Third Top 💯 win for #NECKARCUP qualifier Akira Santillan 🇦🇺 after beating Marco Cecchinato
🗣 Post-match Interview 🗣#ATPChallenger #Heilbronn pic.twitter.com/ev0o7UhLF4
— NECKARCUP Heilbronn (@NeckarH) June 6, 2023
TUESDAY RESULTSSingles – First Round[Q] A. Santillan (AUS) d [1] M. Cecchinato (ITA) 75 63[4] [WC] D. Thiem (AUT) d K. Uchida (JPN) 64 64[5] M. Arnaldi (ITA) d N. Gombos (SVK) 75 63F. Diaz Acosta (ARG) d [7] O. Otte (GER) 64 67(1) 61[8] P. Kotov d A. Pellegrino (ITA) 76(6) 62[LL] M. Janvier (FRA) d [Q] L. Gerch (GER) 64 63F. Meligeni Alves (BRA) d [Q] J. Kym (SUI) 76(2) 63[WC] R. Molleker (GER) d [Q] S. Fanselow (GER) 64 67(5) 61[Alt] D. Added (FRA) d [Q] M. Rehberg (GER) 62 54 RetiredP. Martinez (ESP) d [Q] H. Squire (GER) 64 62
