Tim van Rijthoven made an impression on Monday at his Wimbledon debut. The Dutchman admitted with a wild card convincingly defeated the Argentinian Federico Delbonis in three sets: 7-6 (7), 6-1 and 6-2.
Earlier this month, 25-year-old Van Rijthoven caused a sensation by winning the Libéma Open in Rosmalen. The organization of Wimbledon then decided to give the number 104 in the world a wild card.
That confidence was not betrayed by Van Rijthoven, who has never participated in a Grand Slam tournament before. Only in the first set did he have a hard time with Delbonis, who took a 4-2 lead.
De Roosendaler, however, reversed the break deficit and eliminated a set point in the tiebreak. The good ending of the first set gave him confidence, because after that Van Rijthoven was supreme against the number 84 in the world, who is by no means a specialist on grass.
Thanks in part to an excellent service, Van Rijthoven won the second set within 26 minutes. Also in the third act, Delbonis no longer came under the pressure, after which Van Rijthoven finished the match in style with a love game.
In the second round, Van Rijthoven will face the fifteenth seeded American Reilly Opelka or Carlos Taberner from Spain.