Thiem, Fognini out in Rio Open first round
Top seeds Dominic Thiem of Austria and Italy's Fabio Fognini and Marco Cecchinato have been ousted in the first round of the Rio Open clay-court tournament.
No.1 seed Thiem lost to unheralded Serbian Laslo Dere 6-3 6-3, while second seed Fognini was defeated by 18-year-old Canadian Felix Auger Aliassime 6-2 6-3.
Third seed Cecchinato, who won the Argentina Open on Sunday, was also eliminated by Slovenia's Aljaz Bedene 7-5 7-6 (1).
World No. 104 Auger Aliassime became the biggest surprise of the tournament by eliminating Fognini, who is the only player to have featured in all six editions of the Rio Open.
The 31-year-old was runner-up in 2015 and reached the semifinals last year. He had arrived in Brazil as tournament favourite, together with Thiem.
Auger Aliassime cleaned up the match in an hour and 29 minutes with Fognini constantly protesting the umpire's decisions as the youngster put on a display of strength and courage with his serving game.
In the second round, he faces face Chilean Christian Garin, 22, who beat German Maximilian Marterer 7-5 6-3.
Favourite Thiem was defeated by world No.90 Djere, who broke his serve five times, in an hour and 20 minutes.
The Serb, who is yet to win an ATP title, easily dispatched the Austrian, who showed problems from the first minute of the game and when behind 2-1, asked for medical attention after complaining of neck pain.
"He played a bit worse than normally I think, to be honest," Derje said.
"But I had a great day. I felt the ball really well, hitting well from the baseline and then attacking well when it was time for that."
"The biggest win in my career so I'm really happy right now."
The tournament's fifth and sixth seeds also lost their matches on Tuesday.
Portugal's Joao Sousa was defeated 4-6 6-3 6-4 by Argentina's Guido Pella and Serbia's Dusan Lajovic lost to Britain's Cameron Norrie 6-2 6-1.
with Reuters
