Former world No 3Dominic Thiemwas disappointed after failing to “reward himself” with a French Open second-round spot. Thiem, a two-time French Open finalist, exited this year’s French Open in the first round after Pedro Cachin handed him a 6-3 6-2 6-7 (1) 4-6 6-2 loss.

After easily losing the first two sets, 92nd-ranked Thiem won the next two sets to force a decider. Just when it seemed Thiem would clinch a major comeback win, the Austrian’s level dropped and he ended up easily losing the fifth set.

“I didn’t start well at all. How should I say, I was very tight. What I was expecting I had very, very good practice sets, but most of the times in the first real match it’s not that easy, and that’s what happened. I was fighting back great, starting to play a bit better.

And then, yeah, I missed to do the last step, to reward myself, to give myself a chance to play a second round maybe a little bit looser. I was not able to do it. Yeah, that’s how it is now,” Thiem said after the match.

Thiem, who was on a five-match losing streak during February and March, had a couple of solid wins during the clay season.

Early in the clay season, Thiem made the quarterfinals in Estoril and Munich. Then, Thiem also made the Mauthausen Challenger semifinal. Despite failing to make a good French Open result, Thiem remains confident that he is on the right track.

“Yeah, I was, well, changing perspectives again and then changing my attitude again towards the game from, like, well thinking about or thinking of giving 100 percent, but not really doing it again. That’s what changed. The last six weeks were really good.

But, yeah, obviously it’s not enough yet to play well, to play well in a tournament like that. But, yeah, again, I feel that I’m on the right track again. Today I just failed to reward myself. Yeah, it’s just I have to continue,” Thiem said.