Thiem sweeps past Medvedev for Barcelona title

BARCELONA: Dominic Thiem overpowered Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-0 on Sunday to win the Barcelona Open title, boosting his credentials as a potential Roland Garros champion.

A day after knocking out 11-time Barcelona winner Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals, the third-seeded Austrian claimed his second title in four events after beating Roger Federer at Indian Wells last month.

He is also the first Austrian to take the Barcelona title since Thomas Muster in 1996. “It’s such an honour to win here, only the biggest champions have done it,” said 25-year-old Thiem.

“I’m so happy and proud to join Muster here, now my name is on the trophy.” Thiem needed just 73 minutes to earn victory over his seventh-seeded Russian opponent, who needed treatment on his shoulder late in the first set.

The Austrian got off to a slow start, losing his first serve, but made up for lost time by breaking Medvedev twice in the first set before completely dominating the second. Thiem will now have a few days off prior to the start of the next big date of the pre-Roland Garros calendar, the Madrid Masters.