He may have been many people’s favourite for an early exit, but Austrian 8th seed Dominic Thiem has moved into the fourth round at Wimbledon. The Roland Garros semi-finalist defeated American Jared Donaldson 7-5, 6-4, 6-2.
Both me held their serves well through the first seven games of the match before Donaldson took a surprise break of serve for 5-3. He failed to serve out though, and instead Thiem would win the next four games, and the set. Thiem closed out the set with a stunning point that included a between the legs shot and a superb drop-shot pickup.
Donaldson forced some early pressure in the second set, earning six break points in the fourth game, but Thiem would hold with some strong serving. Thiem would then break himself in the next game, a strong return proving too hot for Donaldson to handle and the second set would be Thiem’s.
Donaldson continued to show moments of excellent tennis but Thiem had a rhythm of defending well, and forced Donaldson to go for low percentage shots.
Thiem took the first four games of the third set. Donaldson managed to hold twice to make the set competitive but the Austrian moved into the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time. His previous best was a second round showing in each of the last two years. Thiem will face face 11th seed and last year’s semi-finalist Tomas Berdych in the fourth round.
Reaching the third round also represents a career best for the 20 year-old Donaldson, who will move up in the ATP rankings as a result.
Should Thiem beat Berdych, he could face 2nd seed Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals. Thiem recently beat Djokovic in the quarter-finals of the French Open.
