Dominic Thiem wins in Winston-Salem after top seed Grigor Dimitrov retires

Dimitrov was leading the match 6-0, 2-4 at the time.

Dominic Thiem, playing in his first tournament on American soil since winning the 2020 U.S. Open, defeated top-seeded Grigor Dimitrov in the second round of the Winston-Salem Open after Dimitrov retired because of dizziness.

Dominic Thiem (AP)

Dimitrov was leading the match 6-0, 2-4 at the time.

“That’s not the way I want to win a match, especially against Grigor,” Thiem said.

Thiem reached a career-high No. 3 in the world rankings in March of 2020 and remained in the top five until injuring his right wrist 14 months ago.

Maxime Cressy of the United States, the No. 4 seed, moved into the third round with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Australia’s James Duckworth, and fellow American Steve Johnson defeated No. 12 seed Pedro Martinez of Mexico 7-6 (2), 6-2.

Fifth-seeded Lorenzo Musetti from Italy was upset in the second round by France's Richard Gasquet 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-1, and No. 6 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili from Georgia fell to Brazil's Thiago Monteiro 6-4, 6-1.

Australia's Jack Draper and Jason Kubler also won, along with Serbia's Laslo Djere, who beat 16th-seeded Joao Sousa of Portugal 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5).

In doubles action, the No. 1 seeded team of Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic from Croatia advanced with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Ukrainian-Kazakhstani's Aleksandr Nedovyesov and Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi. However, second-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Austin Krajicek of the United States were ousted by Simone Bolelli of Italy and Marcelo Melo of Brazil 6-4, 7-6 (3).

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.