Defending champion Hubert Hurkacz starts off with a win against Thiem in Metz

Hubert Hurkacz won the event last year and he started off well against a solid but not good enough Dominic Thiem 6-3 6-34

The Polish player is a strong indoor player and has always been thanks to his strong serve, precise returns and affinity to avoid error sprees. All of that suited him well in a title run last year in Metz and he started off well this year as well.

The opponent was Thiem, another good player, but also a tired one after playing a lot of tennis recently. He held his own initially pretty well but eventually, he kind of ran out of stem. A few mistakes and a few good moments from Hurkacz were enough to secure a break in the opening set 6-3.

The second set was quite similar as Thiem held his own pretty well. He only really played one bad service game and got broken in it. It would have been fairly good for him if he was able to serve a bit better because it hurt him.

Hurkacz was superb on his serve in both sets, especially the second one and it proved a huge difference in the match. The only break points he allowed was in his first service game and once he settled into a good rhythm, it was game over.