The first round of the 2023 United States Open commenced on Monday. Of the first round matches in the lower half of the draw, there was one result that stood out over all the rest. At the Grandstand Court, Dominic Thiem of Wiener Neustadt, Austria, defeated the 25th seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
Thiem was the 2020 United States Open champion, but has not won a grand slam singles match since a third round victory at the 2021 Australian Open. There he beat Nick Kyrgios of Australia in a five set thriller, 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
On Monday, a major reason why Thiem won in straight sets was because of the serve. Bublik had 17 double faults and Thiem had only five.
Despite not winning a grand slam match at the Australian Open, French Open or Wimbledon this year, there were signs in 2023 that Thiem would have positive results. In August, he reached the final of the Austrian Open before losing 6-3, 6-1 to Sebastian Baez of Argentina. There, Thiem had three set wins over Zhizhen Zhang of China, Arthur Rinderknech of France, and Laslo Djere of Serbia.
Bublik was one of five male seeded players to lose on Monday. He was joined by the fourth seed Holger Rune of Denmark, the 15th seed Felix Auger Aliassime of Canada, the 18th seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, and the 31st seed Sebastian Korda of the United States. Rune lost 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain. Auger-Aliassime, the 2021 United States Open semifinalist, lost 7-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to Mackenzie McDonald of the United States. Musetti lost 6-3, 0-6, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 to French qualifier Titouan Droguet. Korda lost 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 to Marton Fucsovics of Hungary.
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