A fourth day at Wimbledon was dominated by upsets before a late thriller between home court favorite Andy Murray and No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas was suspended due to an 11pm curfew.
Murray and Tsitsipas went three sets before officials stopped the match shortly after 10:30 pm local time. The first two sets went to tiebreaks but Murray took a 6-7 (7-3), 7-6 (7-6), 6-4 lead in the third set.
Murray and Tsitsipas have a history, with Murray accusing Tsitsipas of taking prolonged bathroom breaks before Murray’s serve at the 2021 US Open. Thursday’s match had the feel of a tense rivalry with the London crowd fully behind Briton Murray. When Tsitsipas returned to the court after Murray after a break after the second set, boos could be heard from the stands.
Play on court was cordial but tense as the players shared the first two sets in tiebreaks. The center court crowd fell silent when Murray fell to the ground while serving for the third. Leading 5-4, a point away from clinching the set, he was in apparent pain in his left groin after missing a return from Tsitsipas.
He rolled to the ground for a moment, but got up in time for his serve to make it 40–30. Tsitsipas’ comeback lasted longer and Murray took a two sets-to-one lead. It appeared that he wanted to play before the officials stopped the match due to curfew.
Murray left the court without any visible signs of injury. Assuming Murray is okay, play will resume on Friday.
Liam Brodie defeated No. 4 Casper Rude
Earlier on Thursday, 29-year-old Briton Liam Brodie, who grew up in Stockport, England, four hours from London, pulled off the most surprising win over No. 4 Casper Rudd in the second round. Brody, No. 142 ranked ATP player in the world, before winning the opening frame he dropped the next two frames to his Norwegian opponent. However, Brody fought back and won the final two sets – his first against a top-10 player – 6–4, 3–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6–0.
Then, No. 9 Taylor Fritz, who went on to the 2022 Wimbledon quarterfinals, blew a two-set lead over unseeded Mikael Ymer. He lost three sets in a row to Fritz Ymer, who made an incredible comeback 2-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. It will be the 24-year-old Swedish player’s most successful achievement at Wimbledon.
Earlier in the day, two sides of the spectrum of the professional tennis era also clashed.
16-year-old Russian Mira Andreeva, who made her WTA debut in 2022, became 3rd youngest player to reach third round After moving past 10th seed Barbora Krejcikova at Wimbledon in the Open era. Andreeva led 6–3, 4–0 in the second set before Krejcikova retired.
Meanwhile, 38-year-old Stan Wawrinka reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 2020 when he defeated number 29 Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina. Wawrinka – who is 15 years older than Etcheverry – won the opening set, lost the second but took the last two frames to win 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
If you want to feel old, Wawrinka had already played in 12 Grand Slam tournaments in 2007—including two at Wimbledon—before Andreeva was born.
Wawrinka will now face Novak Djokovic, whom Wawrinka mocked in his post-match interview.
So while Andreeva could be the future of women’s tennis, Wawrinka proved on Thursday that he can still play with the younger generation in the men’s section.
How did the Americans do?
While Fritz’s Wimbledon bid ended in defeat, the other top 10 ranked American, Frances Tiafoe, remained in the running after a three-set victory over Dominique Steffen Stricker. But it was not a walk in the park. Tiafoe and Stricker had a tough contest in the opening set, which included 24 tiebreak points. Tiafoe took the lead and won the set 7-6 (13-11), 6-4, 6-2.
No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula advanced to the third round with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Christina Bukasa.
Tommy Paul, another top-20 ranked player, won his match over Milos Raonic. The 16th-seeded Paul won the first two sets, lost the third set and claimed a lead in the final frame. Final Score: 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 6-4.
Other Americans – including Fritz – fared not so well:
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Sloane Stephens lost to No. 20 Donna Vekic in three sets, 6-4, 4-7, 4-6.
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Danielle Collins fell to No. 14 Belinda Bencic in three sets, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (10-2).
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No. 32 Ben Shelton lost to Laslo Jarre 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (5-7), 3-6.
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Sofia Kenin defeated Wang Xinyue in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.
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JJ Wolff lost to 23rd seed Alexander Bublik in three sets. Wolf had a chance to steal a frame when he forced a tiebreaker in the second set, but could not seal the win. Bublik’s eventual victory ended with a 6–3, 7–6 (7–5), 6–0 victory.
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Michael Mamoh won 15 games, but did not lose a set to Maximilian Marterer. The German opponent won 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
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Alicia Parks lost to Ana Bogdan. Although Parkes won the first frame, Bogdan won 1–6, 6–3, 6–2.
Other Notable Problems
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Elise Mertens lost to Elina Svitolina in three sets. Unseeded Ukrainian Svitolina won the opening set, then crumbled in the second and came back strongly in the third and final frame. Svitolina defeated 28th seed Mertens of Belgium 6-1, 1-6, 6-1. Svitolina most recently made the French Open quarterfinals, but hasn’t reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam since doing so at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2019.
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Marketa Vondrousova stunned no. 12 Veronika Kudermetova with a straight sets win. The 24-year-old Czech Vondrousova had never advanced past the second round at Wimbledon. He won 6-3, 6-3.
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Jule Niemeyer, a year away from her quarterfinal appearance at last year’s Wimbledon, is eyeing a repeat performance after defeating 16th seed Karolina Muchova 6-4, 7-5, 6-1.
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Unseeded Jiri Lehka beat 18th seed Francisco Cerundolo 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 in three sets.
Other Notable Results
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Defending Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, the No. 3 seed, defeated Alize Cornet in straight sets, including a fiery tiebreaker in the second frame. Rybakina won 6–2, 7–6 (7–2).
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No. 7 seed Andre Rublev came back from an opening set loss to beat Aslan Karatsev 6-7(4-7), 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 in four sets.
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Fifth seed Caroline Garcia defeated Leyla Annie Fernandez in three sets. Garcia lost the first frame but won the last two to win 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-6).
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Fresh from his appearance in the semi-finals of the French Open, Alexander Zverev fought back to defeat Gijs Brouwer in three sets. Zverev won 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5) to enter the second round.
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Former world No. 2 Anett Kontaveit will officially retire after losing 1-6, 2-6 to No. 32 Marie Bouzkova. Kontaveit, 27, announced in June that she would retire from tennis after being diagnosed with lumbar disc degeneration in her back.
highlight of the day
Brodie made a big shot in front of his country in the match against Rude: