Fourth seed Thiem battles into Italian Open third round

ROME (AFP) - Austrian fourth seed Dominic Thiem rallied from a set down to battle past Hungary s Marton Fucsovics into the third round of the ATP Italian Open on Wednesday.

US Open champion Thiem, a semi-finalist in Madrid last week, won through 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-0 in 2hr 33min against 44th-ranked Fucsovics in the clay-court tournament which acts as a warm-up for the French Open in which the Austrian has twice finished runner-up.

The 27-year-old will next play an Italian, either Lorenzo Sonego or wildcard entry Gianluca Mager, in a match in front of spectators, with 25 percent capacity allowed at the Foro Italico after the early rounds were played behind closed doors.