NEW YORK: Former US Open champion Dominic Thiem retired from his second round match against US hopeful Ben Shelton at Flushing Meadows due to an apparent illness, reported German Press Agency (dpa).
The former world number three retired, pointing to his stomach, after just over an hour of play after dropping the first set to Shelton, with a score of 7-6 (7-1), 1-0 to the young American.
In the first game of the second set against Shelton, Thiem breathed heavily, allowed three of his opponent’s serves to go by him without attempting to answer and gave up at the subsequent change of ends.
The world number 81 withdrew from the Winston-Salem Open earlier in August due to gastroenteritis.
Thiem on Monday picked up his first win at the US Open since he won the title in 2020, defeating Kazakh Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
The win was also the Austrian’s first at a Grand Slam since the 2021 Australian Open.
After defeating Alexander Zverev in the 2020 US Open final to win his first slam, 29-year-old Thiem suffered repeated setbacks due to issues with his wrist. – BERNAMA-dpa
