Liam Brodie thrilled the Center Court crowd on Thursday as he became the first British man since 2013 to beat a top four seed at Wimbledon with his surprise win over No. 4 Casper Ruud.
After winning the first set, wild card Brody, ranked No. 142 in the world, dropped the next two before winning 6–4, 3–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6–0. – the biggest of his career.
“When I went to bed last night, I was thinking about what I would say if I won the match,” Brodie told the crowd during his on-court interview. “I really don’t know what to say now.”
After three days of action at the All England Club were affected by rain, organizers staged a full day of tennis on Thursday, with 56 matches played before the Andy Murray-Stefanos Tsitsipas match was suspended at 10:40 p.m., with only eight Matches completed. On Tuesdays, these would all be played on either Center Court or No. 1 Court – covered only by terraces.
Due to all the disruptions, some first round matches were played on the fourth day. Normally, the first Thursday of the tournament would conclude the second round.
Brodie reduced his errors and played a strong service game to take the fourth set, and his first ace of the match forced a deciding set.
“It’s such a scary, exhilarating feeling to be on Center Court at Wimbledon,” Brody said. “It’s been my dream since I was 5.”
Rudd began to fade in the final set and required medical attention due to blisters on his foot. Brody broke Love in the opening game of the fifth set and using his double-fisted backhand to good effect, he came back on a break after trailing 40–0 to take Love 4–0.
“In the fifth, he was just impressive,” said Rudd, who had reached the final in three of the last five major tournaments, never getting past the second round in four appearances at the All England Club.
“Obviously, it’s frustrating in terms of rankings, but I consider him a better grass court player than me,” Rudd said. Grass. He probably does better. I was sliding around a little bit and losing my balance.
“It’s very difficult. But I’ll keep trying. My goal is to try to do well here at some point. It didn’t happen this year but I honestly love coming here. It’s a very special place.”
Americans
Winners on Thursday included three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland, who beat No. 29 Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to advance. Third Round.
The 38-year-old Wawrinka, who has won his major titles at the other three Grand Slam tournaments, will next face 23-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, who is going for his record eighth title at Wimbledon. That match is to be played on Center Court on Friday.
“I think there is no chance for me to win Wimbledon,” said Wawrinka, who reached the quarterfinals of the All England Club in 2014 and 2015. “I’m getting better each match, and as I say, I think it’s an honor to be here playing Novak. I missed playing with him at the Grand Slams at Wimbledon in my career.” That’s the last thing I’ve ever played with them, and it’s going to be a tough challenge.
“Hopefully I’ll be able to have a competitive match, but if you look at recent results, I don’t really have a chance.”
American Frances Tiafoe beat Swiss qualifier Dominic Stryker with 23 aces to win 7-6(11), 6-4, 6-2.
The 10th seed, who is in the third round of a grasscourt Grand Slam for the third time in a row, served with consistent accuracy and won 89% of his first serves, leaving precious few opportunities for his 20-year-old rival.
Tiafoe said, “The ace counts for a lot.” “Sometimes my percentage is not high but the ace count is always very good. It is something that is helping me a lot.”
Tiafoe missed two break points at 1–0 and a set point at 5–4 as the first set went to a tiebreak, which he eventually claimed. He was inches away from a break in the third set, but he skilfully got himself out of a tight spot by hitting another ace and then broke Striker with a backhand winner at 2-2, earning the applause of the limited crowd on Court 12.
“Now it’s starting to get interesting. Everybody’s nice. Everybody’s tough,” said Tiafoe, who is hoping to become the first American men’s Grand Slam champion since Andy Roddick won the US Open in 2003. “You start out playing with the best players.” in the world. This is where the fun comes in. I mean, two talented guys going into this. Let’s see what happens.”
American Taylor Fritz, a Wimbledon quarterfinalist last year, saw his performance as the No. 9 seed in five sets against unseeded Sweden’s Mikael Ymer, losing the first two and coming from a break before a 3–6, 2–1 rally. lagged behind. 6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory.
Alexander Zverev, who reached the final of the 2020 US Open but missed most of last season after injuring his ankle in the French Open semi-finals, finally took the court and defeated Dutch qualifier Gijs Brouwer 6-4, 7-6 ( 4), beat 7-6. (5) In the first round.
“It took me three days,” Zverev joked, “but I’m here.”
The 19th seeded German player has reached the fourth round of Wimbledon twice including in 2021. He reached the French Open semifinals again this year.
No. 7 Andrey Rublev recovered from an opening set loss to beat Aslan Karatsev 6-7(4) 6-3 6-4 7-5 in an all-Russian encounter to win his 50th Grand Slam match.
Other advanced seeds include No. 14 Lorenzo Musetti, No. 15 Alex De Minaur, No. 16 Tommy Paul, No. 17 Hubert Herkaz, No. 21 Grigor Dimitrov, No. 23 Alexander Bublik, No. 25 Nicolas Jarry, No. 26 Andrej Ness, No. 26 Andrej Zafar, No. 26 Andrej Andrej. Denis Shapovalov and No. 31 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
No. 18 Francisco Cerundolo lost to Jiri Lehka in straight sets, while No. 32 Ben Shelton was also eliminated.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.