Australian Open 2019: Wildcard Alexei Popyrin enters third round after seventh seed Dominic Thiem limps out

Melbourne: Seventh seed Dominic Thiem limped out of the Australian Open in the second round on Thursday when he retired when 7-5, 6-4, 2-0 down to young wildcard Alexei Popyrin. The Austrian got through a first-round five-setter against Benoit Paire that finished in the early hours of Wednesday morning and he never looked 100 percent against the Australian. Thiem smashed his racquet at one point and called for t [caption id=“attachment_5914321” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Australia’s Alexei Popyrin poses for a photo with fans after defeating Austria’s Dominic Thiem as he retired in their second round match. AP[/caption] he trainer before retiring to hand Popyrin, 19, the biggest win of his fledgling career. “It’s never easy winning like this, Dom played a tough first round. It’s never easy winning like this,” said the teenager. But he added: “I always thought I was in the match, to be honest.” Popyrin will meet either 28th seed Lucas Pouille or Maximillian Marterer in the third round.