Dominic Thiem Stumbles As Milos Raonic Shines On A Mixed Day For The Seeds At Wimbledon

Rising-star Dominic Thiem has become the highest seed to exit the men’s draw at Wimbledon following his 7-6(4), 7-6(5), 7-6(3), loss to Czech world No.64 Jiri Vesely.

The eighth seed dropped his serve only once throughout the close encounter that lasted ten minutes shy of the three hour mark, but came short towards the end of each set. The loss is a bitter disappointment for the 22-year-old, who won his first grass-court title in Stuttgart leading into Wimbledon. This year Thiem has already won four ATP titles and reached the semifinals at the French Open.

Vesely’s triumph is only the second top-10 scalp in his career following his shock win over Novak Djokovic at the Monte Carlo Masters earlier this year. In the next round he will play Portugal’s  Joao Sousa for a chance to reach his first grand slam fourth round.

“It was a very tough match, very close with three tiebreaks,” Vesely said.
“I just went out in the match to just enjoy and give my best, what I have. I think in the important moments I was a little bit more relaxed,” he later added.

Thiem was one of five seeded players to exit the tournament on day four. Another notable casualty was 13th seed David Ferrer, who went out 6-1, 6-4, 6-3, to Nicolas Mahut. The 34-year-old has no answer to his opponents impressive 44 winners and nine aces. Mahut will now play in the third round at SW19 first the first time since 2006.

16th seed Gilles Simon was edged out by former Wimbledon semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov – 6-3, 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-4. The Bulgarian demonstrated a mixed second round performance after producing almost the same amount of errors as winners (43-44), but outplayed the 16th seed at the crucial stages of the match. It is now Dimitrov’s second win over the Frenchman this year after his triumph at the Brisbane International.

Completing the group of seeded casualties on Thursday were Alexandr Dolgopolov, who was crushed by an sensational Dan Evans, and big-serving Ivo Karlovic, who was knocked out by world No.123 Lukas Lacko.

Milos Raonic Charges On

Milos Raonic continued his recent surge in form with the help of 25 aces. Facing Andreas Seppi, the Canadian eased past the Italian 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-2, in just under two hours. During the match Raonic equally Sam Groth’s record of the fastest serve at the tournament this year, registering a 142 mph ace.

In the round of 32 Raonic will play America’s Jack Sock, who will play in the third round of the tournament for the first time in his career. The 27th seed achieved the milestone by dismissing Robin Haase in four sets.

“I have to serve well,” Raonic said about the upcoming clash.
 “We’ve played a lot of times. I’ve been able to find the solutions most of the time. I have got to take care of the serve. I have got to find my way forward, find a way to be the aggressor.
“I think it’s the fact that I’ve always found a way to be the one dictating, controlling. It’s always eventually paid off throughout the difficult matches for me.”

Raonic currently has a dominating head-to-head record against Sock of 7-1.

SEE ALSO: Andy Murray follows Kei Nishikori into third round at Wimbledon

Full list of Thursday’s results