LONDON (Reuters) – 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. 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 center line. (Reporting by John Stonestreet; Editing by Ken Ferris)