Vesely Upsets Thiem At Wimbledon

Jiri Vesely caused the biggest upset of The Championships on Thursday by recording only the second Top 10 win of his career (2-9 record).

Vesely, currently No. 64 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, held his nerve to edge past No. 8-ranked Dominic Thiem 7-6(4), 7-6(5), 7-6(3) in two hours and 45 minutes on Court No. 1 for a place in the third round. Vesely goes on to face No. 31 seed Joao Sousa, who beat American Dennis Novikov 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in just under two hours.

Vesely failed to convert one set point opportunity on Thiem’s serve at 6-5 in the first set, but won three straight points from 4/4 in the tie-break. The Czech calmly took a 3/0 lead in the second set tie-break and won four of the first five points in the third tie-break of the pair’s third FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.

“I had a lot of confidence in the most important moments,” said Vesely. “In the tight moments I was more comfortable, I served well and overall I think I played a very good match.”

Thiem, the ATP World Tour match wins leader this year with a 48-13 record, has won four titles over the past six months. Vesely, also 22, is now 7-7 lifetime on grass courts.

Seventh seed Richard Gasquet battled his way past Marcel Granollers 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 on Thursday at The Championships. The 2007 and 2015 semi-finalist hit 41 winners and converted six of his 17 break point opportunities for a place in the third round.

Gasquet improved to 27-10 at the All England Club for sole ownership of sixth place for most match wins by a Frenchman.

MOST WIMBLEDON MATCH WINS BY FRENCHMEN

He will next face Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who needed almost three hours to battle past No. 25 seed Viktor Troicki 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. The Spaniard saved seven of the 10 break points he faced and survived 64 winners from Troicki.