Dominic Thiem and Marcel Granollers ended a sparse day of French Open play at one set all to perfectly set their match up for the resumption of play (Adam Pinder writes).  Tied at 6-2 6-7 (5), their fourth ever meeting has so proven too close to call. 

This fourth round encounter was scheduled to be first on court Suzanne Lenglen on Monday, but with the rain tumbling down in the French capital, Roland Garros, for the first time in 16 years, had to cancel an entire day's schedule without a ball being hit, forcing Marcel Granollers and Dominic Thiem to play their match on court two.

For the Spaniard, he hadn't been on court, in singles anyway, since Thursday, when Nicolas Mahut retired during their second round meeting. Not forgetting being the beneficiary of Rafa Nadal's withdrawal and the weather, Granollers had had four days off to recover and recuperate.

Marcel Granollers (Source: Tennis connected)
Marcel Granollers (Source: Tennis connected)

Thiem overcomes the tough conditions to start well 

Yet in the tough, heavy conditions, it was Thiem who got off to the better start, breaking the Granollers' serve in the third game. The Austrian would go up a double break and despite needing nearly a quarter of an hour (with a rain delay close to three hours in between), the thirteenth seed served out and took the opening set 6-2.

Granollers bounces back.  

This was the fourth meeting between the pair, with their previous three all coming on clay in 2014. Thiem won each and every one of those matches and it seemed he was well on his way to maintaining his unbeaten record against his opponent, ranked 56th in the world. However, Granollers had other ideas. After an exchange of breaks in the opening couple of games of the second set, both men would hold serve on five occasions to take it to a tiebreak, which he would dominate and win 7-2, levelling the match at a set a piece.

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About the author
Jack Haugh
Freelance sports writer, specialising in tennis.