After Andrey Rublev triumphed in the opening match of the tournament against Jan-Lennard Struff, also the organizer of the tournament, Dominic Thiem and Casper Ruud stepped on the court in Kitzbuhel to play their first match at the Thiem's 7.

If the match between Rublev and Struff was a great tennis spectacle, fans couldn't wish for more in the match between Thiem and Ruud. The players fought for every point and sets lasted more than an hour.

In the first set, we saw only 3 breakpoints. 'Domi' had the first in the first game of the match, but he didn't convert it. Also, Ruud failed to take advantage of his breakpoint in the 6th game and it seemed that the first set will end in a tie-break. However, the 26-years-old Austrian converted his breakpoint in the 11th game and won the first set 7-5.

Thiem had a breakpoint in the first game of the second set as well. Similarly to the first set, he didn't convert it and so Ruud used his opportunity in the 4th game to get a 3-1 lead. However, world no. 3 showed his experience and broke Ruud back in the 7th game. The set could see the same result as the previous when Thiem had 2 breakpoints in the 11th game, but this time he didn't convert them.

After another hold of service game, we saw the first classic tie-break of the tournament. There, it was Thiem who showed his experience and prevailed to his first match at the tournament. The Austrian triumphed 7-5, 7-6(4) after more than 2 hours.