Thiem takes revenge on Mayer in three close sets

ByReuters

Published 29/06/2016 at 17:44 GMT

Austrian tyro Dominic Thiem took sweet revenge on unseeded Florian Mayer at Wimbledon on Wednesday, dodging the showers to dispatch the veteran German 7-5 6-4 6-4 in just over 1-1/2 hours of cut-and-thrust tennis.

Eurosport

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Mixing his trademark power groundstrokes with dropshots and deft touches at the net, the 22-year-old number eight seed broke his opponent once in each set in a first-round match that was twice interrupted by rain.

Mayer, 32, beat the Austrian in their last grasscourt encounter -- the semi-finals of the Halle tournament earlier this month, which the German went on to win.

Thiem wrapped things up on his first match point when Mayer hit a service return long, the Austrian having benefited earlier in the game from a service ace that Hawkeye showed had just clipped the centre line.

ATP Madrid