Tim van Rijthoven convincingly qualified for the second round of the Wimbledon grand slam tournament on Monday. The unseeded Dutch tennis player defeated his Argentine opponent Federico Delbonis (7-6, 6-1, 6-2) in three sets. In a difficult first set, Van Rijthoven still needed an exciting tiebreak (9-7), but in the following sets a lot of pressure seemed to have fallen off the shoulders of the 25-year-old Wimbledon debutant. He rolled over Delbonis with a strong serve and striking blows. He only had three games left.
On the grass of lane eleven, Van Rijthoven was supported by a handful of Dutch fans, who cheered him loudly after he used his match point with an unreturned service. Delbonis was killed in the first round of Wimbledon for the sixth consecutive time. In the second round, Van Rijthoven will face the winner of the match between Spaniard Carlos Taberner and American Reilly Opelka.
Van Rijthoven was allowed to participate in the grand slam tournament thanks to his sensational tournament victory in Rosmalen, where he won the ATP tournament Libéma Open earlier this month. In the final he defeated the Russian Daniil Medvedev, the current number one in the world ranking, while Van Rijthoven himself was number 205 in the world ranking before that tournament. He was the first Dutchman ever to receive a wild card from the Wimbledon organization.
Also read this interview with Van Rijthoven about the long road to his breakthrough