By Chris Oddo | Saturday May 21, 2016

Dominic Thiem weathered a storm from 19-year-old Alexander Zverev then ran away with the final set to claim his third title of 2016, 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 on Saturday at the Open de Nice Cote d’Azur.

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Thiem’s second win over Zverev this season also marks the Austrian’s 36th victory in 2016. He is one win behind Novak Djokovic for the ATP lead in that category this season.

The lead changed hands a few times in the opening two sets, with Zverev claiming the initial break before Thiem turned up the heat to take the first set and lead by a break in the second.

But the feisty Zverev, despite having logged over eleven hours of match time in his five matches (and suffering a bloody nose in set two) this week in Nice, rallied to force a decider.

After the second set Thiem would seek the aid of the trainer for an ailing right shoulder, but the 22-year-old world No. 15 was undeterred. The Austrian won all but five points in a one-sided third set to claim his sixth career title.

If he can gather his energy and shake off the shoulder injury, Thiem is most certainly a dark horse candidate at Roland Garros next week. The 13th seed will open with Inigo Cervantes of Spain, and could face Rafael Nadal in the round of 16.

Zverev will face Pierre-Hugues Herbert in the first round. The German has collected 21 wins on the season, besting his previous high for wins by seven.