DOMINIC Thiem is out of the 2020 Western & Southern Open after falling in a performance that he himself described as “horrible”, losing in just over an hour to Serbian, Filip Krajinovic.

The Austrian second seed won just three games against Krajinovic in a 6-2 6-1 loss. The world number 32 is far from a slouch himself, but was one win from 17 when facing a top 10 player. That all changed in a stunning smashing of the world number three in just over an hour, winning 32 of his 34 service points to never look like dropping a game on-serve as Krajinovic had one of those games.

“I think I started really well today. I was aggressive and I’m really happy that I’m in the third round,” Krajinovic said on court to the ATP Tour website. “I don’t think Thiem was playing today good tennis, but I took the chance and I think I deserved to win.”

Broken four times by his lower ranked opponent, Thiem did not hold back on the appraisal of his own game.

“It was just a horrible game by myself,” Thiem said. “Didn’t play well at all. “Didn’t get any rhythm. I felt like I didn’t win any points on his serve. “I had [a lot of] trouble with returning. “It’s tough to understand right now, but, I will think about it and hopefully I’ll find better answers in the next days.”

Krajinovic will now take on another surprise winner in Hungarian qualifier, Marton Fucsovics who upset 14th seed Bulgarian, Grigor Dimitov. Fucsovics has enjoyed a strong season in 2020, and that continued with a hard-fought 7-5 4-6 6-2 victory over his higher ranked opponent. The Hungarian defied qualifying to move through to the Round of 16 following the upset win.

In other Round of 32 results, British wildcard Andy Murray showed he might not be finished just yet, posting an impressive 6-3 3-6 7-5 win over fifth seed German, Alexander Zverev. The two-time Western & Southern Open winner looked down and out when his opponent served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, but the wily veteran fought back to break and then win the final two games to close out the match in two hours and 31 minutes.

“I don’t think either of us played particularly well when we were close to the finishing line, but [that was] maybe to be expected since we haven’t played any matches for such a long period,” Murray said post-game. “He didn’t serve so well at the end, which obviously helped me but I fought hard and it is a good effort to win that after not playing for a while.”

He will now take on unseeded Canadian Milos Raonic who knocked off Murray’s compatriot, Dan Evans 6-3 7-5. Other unseeded players through to the next round were Americans, Reilly Opelka and Tennys Sandgren who upset ninth seed Diego Schwartzman and 15th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime respectively. German Jan-Lennard Struff also booked a spot in the Round of 16 with a three-set win over 12th seed Canadian Denis Shapovalov, while Slovenian Aljaz Bedene kept the home fans unhappy with a 7-6 7-5 victory over American Taylor Fritz.

In more predictable results, Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medevedev and Matteo Berrettini all made their way through to the Round of 16 with wins over qualifiers. Djokovic looked far from his usual self with a 7-6 6-4 win over Ricardas Berankis, while Berrettini dropped a set to Finn Emil Ruusuvuori before holding on 6-4 6-7 7-5. Medvedev won in a close straight sets victory, 6-4 6-4 in his first match on tour since the break, with another winners being 8th seed Roberto Bautista Agut, 11th seed Karen Khachanov and 16th seed John Isner.

WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN ATP TOUR RESULTS:

[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) defeated [Q] Ricardas Berankis (LTU) 7-6 6-4
Filip Krajinovic (SRB) defeated [2] Dominic Thiem (AUT) 6-2 6-1
[3] Daniil Medvedev (RUS) defeated [Q] Marcos Giron (USA) 6-4 6-4
[WC] Andy Murray (GBR) defeated [5] Alexander Zverev (GER) 6-3 3-6 7-5
[6] Matteo Berrettini (ITA) defeated [Q] Emil Ruusuvuori (FIN) 6-4 6-7 7-5
[8] Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) defeated Richard Gasquet (FRA) 7-5 6-1
Reilly Opelka (USA) defeated [9] Diego Schwartzman (ARG) 6-3 7-6
[11] Karen Khachanov (RUS) defeated Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP) 7-6 6-1
Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) defeated [12] Denis Shapovalov (CAN) 7-6 3-6 6-4
[Q] Marton Fucsovics (HUN) defeated [14] Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) 7-5 4-6 6-2
[WC] Tennys Sandgren (USA) defeated [15] Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) 6-7 6-2 7-6
[16] John Isner (USA) defeated John Millman (AUS) 4-6 7-6 7-6
Milos Raonic (CAN) defeated Daniel Evans (GBR) 6-3 7-5
[Q] Aljaz Bedene (SLO) defeated Taylor Fritz (USA) 7-6 7-5

Picture: ATP Tour