Lyon Open: Dominic Thiem takes title with victory over Gilles Simon

Thiem was the top seed for the tournament in Lyon

World number eight Dominic Thiem completed his preparations for the French Open with victory in the Lyon Open final.

The Austrian, who is the seventh seed at Roland Garros, beat France's Gilles Simon 3-6 7-6 (7-1) 6-1.

The win was Thiem's 200th career victory and gives him his 10th ATP title.

The 24-year-old will face qualifier Ilya Ivashka of Belarus in the opening round in Paris.

"I'm super happy. I fought really hard for this title," said Thiem, who ended Rafael Nadal's 21-match unbeaten run on clay when he beat the Spaniard in the Madrid Open quarter-finals earlier this month.

"I'm really happy that I won. It's always something special. It's my tenth title, which is a great number."

Meanwhile, Britain's James Ward made it into the final of the ATP Challenger event in Loughborough.

Ward, who has dropped to 614 in the world after knee surgery last year, defeated Austria's Maximilian Neuchrist 6-1 6-4 and will face Japan's Hiroki Moriya, the world number 298, in Sunday's decider.