With the victory, Murray improves to 8-1 in first-round matches on the year. He next faces 14th seed Denis Shapovalov, who squeezed past lucky loser Ugo Humbert of France, 7-6(1), 6-3.
In the 53-minute long, well fought out first set, it was Thiem who first broke Nadal but Nadal came back well to clinch the first set. However, in a remarkable comeback, the Austrian won the second set. After three previous defeats against Nadal, this was the only set he managed to win against him.
The Austrian who ended Djokovic's 26-match Grand Slam winning streak was clearly the better play on the day enroute to his 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, 5-7, 7-5 victory
