Key events
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Norrie beats Bellucci 7-6, 6-4, 6-3
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Fritz beats Davidovich Fokina 6-4, 6-3, 6-7, 6-1
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Rublev beats Mannarino 7-5, 6-2, 6-3
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Laura Siegemund beats Madison Keys 6-3. 6-3!
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Sonay Kartal beats Diane Parry 6-4, 6-2!
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Shelton beats Hijikata 6-2, 7-5, 6-4
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Pavlyuchenkova beats Osaka 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
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Sierra beats Bucsa 7-5, 1-6, 6-1
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Today’s full order of play
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Preamble
What a day for Laura Siegemund – having stunned Madison Keys in singles earlier, she’s just won her doubles opener alongside Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia. The pair defeated the American duo of Hailey Baptiste and Caty McNally 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.
Just over a year ago, Jarry was ranked 16th in the world – but has been struggling ever since with vestibular neuritis, a nerve disorder which causes vertigo and dizziness. Having fallen outside the world’s top 200, he battled through qualifiers to reach here and has now beaten Holger Rune and Fonseca to reach the last 16.
“Every day is a battle,” the Chilean told the ATP website. “Every month it’s a bit better. I have to reteach my body and my eyes to do certain things. While I improve in my tennis, the other skills also are improving on the same path. Right now I’ve been able to have a good all-around package to be able to compete at this level.”
Nicolás Jarry beats João Fonseca 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6! Fonseca’s hopes of a deep run at his first Wimbledon are over as qualifier Jarry seals victory in the fourth-set tie-break – and sets up a last-16 meeting with Cameron Norrie.
Elina Svitolina is hanging on, saving break points at 6-1, 4-3 down and levelling the set with a forehand that clips the very edge of the line. On Centre, Struff has held firm early in the fourth set, and leads 2-1 on serve.
More tennis players in songs: “Another mention for the dynamic duo (Venus and Serena) courtesy of Ludacris – My Chick Bad. Wouldn’t advise listening to it though,” writes Tor Turner.
Meanwhile, Brad Elliott informs me that “If Loving You Is Wrong, from Faithless’ debut album, had a somewhat raunchy reference to Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.”
More from the women’s draw, where Madison Keys and Naomi Osaka both went out earlier today.
Alcaraz wins third set, leads Struff 2-1! Carlitos gets the job done and is a set away from the fourth round. After this match on Centre Court, there’s still Aryna Sabalenka v Emma Raducanu to come …
Speaking of Borges and Khachanov – the Russian has taken the fourth set 6-3, and they’re going to a decider on No 3 Court. Svitolina broke Mertens to open the second set, but the Belgian immediately hit back, and leads 3-2 in the second set.
Here’s our report on Cam Norrie, something of a forgotten figure to British tennis fans, who has bounced back in style to reach the last 16.
Kamil Majchrzak beats Arthur Rinderknech 6-3, 7-6, 7-6! Disappointment for Rinderknech, who couldn’t follow up his shock win over Zverev – instead it’s his Polish opponent, currently ranked No 109 in the world, who advances to face either Nuno Borges or Karen Khachanov in the last 16.
More tennis players in songs: “Conchita Martinez” by Saint Etienne, nominated by Gavin Broad; and Chris Fagg points out that rapper Lil Wayne loves a tennis reference, sampling Elena Dementieva’s grunts and name-dropping Roger Federer, Steffi Graf and others.
Some strong words from coach Goran Ivanisevic for Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has drifted down to 24th in the world rankings and only played two sets at this year’s tournament before retiring.
“He’s too good a player to be out of the top 10. He wants, but he doesn’t do anything. I was shocked, I have never seen a more unprepared player in my life. With this knee, I am three times more fit than him. This is really bad.”
Struff immediately slips back into bad habits on serve, three double faults in one game allowing Alcaraz an early break in the third set. The Spaniard quickly backs it up to lead 3-0.
Mertens has wrapped up the first set against Svitolina, winning it 6-1. If the Ukrainian can’t turn things around, that will leave just six of the top 16 women’s seeds remaining in the draw.
“Kendrick Lamar notably mentioned Serena Williams in his Drake diss-track, ‘Not Like Us’,” writes Jack Synnott. “And she appeared on stage with Kendrick at this year’s Super Bowl!” Of course. And another mention for the legendary sisters from Super Furry Animals, courtesy of Paul Turner.
Struff levels with Alcaraz at 1-1: Despite a quite brilliant diving volley to save a point, Alcaraz can’t stop Struff from serving out the set – and the defending champion is in a match here.
Jordan Thompson beats Luciano Darderi 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3! The Australian is into the fourth round here for the first time – which is something of a surprise, given that he’s a decent grass-court player. Next up, the No 5 seed, Taylor Fritz.
Struff is growing into this match, a deft volley putting Alcaraz under pressure on serve, and he has a break point when his opponent fails to land a winner down the line under pressure. He converts it, too, nailing a backhand return – and will now serve for the second set!
On tennis players in songs, David Dyte writes: “You mean Michael Jackson wasn’t singing about Billie Jean King?”
Alcaraz promptly drops out of the zone, handing back the break to Struff. The German leads 3-2 on serve in the second set. On No 1 Court, Mertens has an early break against Svitolina.
On a random topic: which tennis players are mentioned in songs? I can only think of John McEnroe (in “Jump Around”) and a “Venus and Serena” mention in Snoop Dogg’s Signs (feat. Justin Timberlake). There must be more, surely?
Jan-Lennard Struff (or JLS, if you prefer) has tried to switch things up in this second set, but Alcaraz is in the zone and quickly breaks to move 2-1 up. Elsewhere, João Fonseca has got a set on the board but trails Nicolas Jarry 2-1, while Nuno Borges is 5-1 up on Khachanov in the third set, looking to edge in front.
Alcaraz serves out the set, and Struff will need to up his game – particularly on serve – if he’s to make this much of a contest. Next up on No 1 Court after Norrie’s win, a rare match between two seeds as Elise Mertens (24) takes on Elina Svitolina (14).
Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak is two sets up against Arthur Rinderknech, the conqueror of Sacha Zverev in the last round. Majchrzak had never won a singles match here before this year and in his grass-court warm-ups, he went out in the first round in Birmingham, Ilkley and Eastbourne. Then he turned up here and beat the former finalist Matteo Berrettini.
Thanks, Katy. Carlos Alcaraz isn’t messing around – he’s raced into a 5-1 first-set lead over Struff, who’s been edgy and error-prone, and is serving for a 1-0 lead.
With that, it’s time for me to take my leave. Niall is back to guide you through the rest of the day …
“You guys were amazing today,” Norrie tells the crowd. “It definitely changed the momentum of the match. I wasn’t thinking [about being the last British man standing] but I’ll take it. I started a bit over-confident, he started great, and I stole the first set. He was a bit up and down [after that] and I tried to stay as solid as I could. It was a lot of fun. Hopefully I can play my next match on Court 1 too.”
Norrie beats Bellucci 7-6, 6-4, 6-3
Bellucci brings up his advantage, but again makes a messy mistake. And another. Norrie has match point … and Bellucci biffs long! Norrie, Britain’s last remaining man, is into the last 16 for the second time, having gone all the way to the semi-finals in 2022. This is now the joint-furthest he’s gone at any slam since then. He’ll face the winner of Fonseca v Jarry, with Jarry, the Chilean qualifier, still two sets to love up in that.
Norrie is serving for the match at 7-6, 6-4, 5-2. He’s swiftly broken to 15. At least he’s got the comfort of another break – but if Bellucci holds here the pressure will only rise. From 15-all, Bellucci swats away a forehand winner. Now that the pressure is off for the Italian, he’s swinging freely. Another fierce forehand and Norrie nets. 40-15. But out of nowhere Bellucci makes two errors and it’s deuce!
Fonseca falls two sets down, 6-3, 6-4, against Jarry. Which has silenced the Brazilian fans a little on No 2 Court. And Arthur Rinderknech, the Frenchman who’s played on every day of the championships so far and saw off Alexander Zverev in five sets in the first round, may finally be getting a day off, because he’s close to dropping two sets down against Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak.
Here comes Carlitos. Fritz’s victory means that the defending champion is up next on Centre, against the 35-year-old German Jan-Lennard Struff, who stretched Alcaraz to five sets in the first round back in 2022. But that was before Alcaraz turned into a Wimbledon winning machine. Alcaraz hasn’t lost a match here since that year. And he hasn’t lost a match anywhere since April, with his 20-match winning streak taking in the Rome, French Open and Queen’s titles.
The court is shrinking for Bellucci, as Norrie, with the break in the third set, moves 7-6, 6-4, 3-1 ahead. Bellucci has some choice Italian words for his team as she falls 0-30 behind on serve, but looks resigned to his fate as it becomes 0-40. Norrie gets the double break with a cute volley … and quickly reaches for an ice towel at the changeover, but at 7-6, 6-4, 4-1, he’ll probably be in a post-match ice bath instead fairly soon.
… we do get to find out what Fritz makes of his victory, though. Unsurprisingly, he’s very happy. And remarkably he says that his body is feeling better as the rounds go by, despite two five-setters and a four-setter today, in which he also had two medical timeouts for blisters and an elbow problem.
“Hello Katy,” emails Michael Cosgrove. “D-Fok is indeed a convenient way of typing Davidovich Fokina’s name, but always remember the golden rule which stipulates that one should never precede ‘D-Fok’ by ‘what’.”
So I probably shouldn’t ask what D-Fok makes of his defeat then …
Fritz beats Davidovich Fokina 6-4, 6-3, 6-7, 6-1
Hands are being shaken on Centre Court, because Fritz has zoomed through the fourth set 6-1, and will be mightily relieved to have avoided another five-setter. The fifth seed has been the most successful player on grass this season, winning the Stuttgart and Eastbourne titles. But will the 14 sets he’s played already in three matches here catch up with him? He’s likely to play Australia’s Jordan Thompson in the last 16. Thompson is two sets to the good, 6-4, 6-4, against Italy’s Luciano Darderi.
Back on No 1 Court, Norrie is serving for the second set at 7-6, 5-4, 30-all. He duly brings up set point, but then goes for a little bit too much on his forehand. Deuce. Advantage Norrie, a second set point. Game and second set Norrie, courtesy of an ace. The spectators on his lucky No 1 Court rise in appreciation; the Brit has a 7-0 career record on this court, and is well set to make it eight. Bellucci has never come from two sets to love down.
Niall wrote earlier about how the All England Club has relaxed its all-white dress code to allow Portuguese players to pay tribute to their countryman and footballer Diogo Jota after his death yesterday. Nuno Borges is wearing a black ribbon on his cap during his match against Karen Khachanov. The score is 5-5 in the opening set.
Though Simon Cambers is daring to challenge the All England Club and has decided on 70 seconds. Here’s his report:
When you’ve had to wait a whole night to finish your match, what’s another 70 seconds between friends? Three aces and an unreturnable kick serve did the job for Ben Shelton as he sealed his place in the third round at Wimbledon on Friday with a 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 win over Rinky Hijikata, the smile on his face a far cry from the understandable frustration he showed when the match was suspended late the previous evening.
The match had been controversially suspended at 9.29pm on Thursday night, with Shelton due to serve for victory. The two players had been in discussion with the umpire, Nacho Forcadell, earlier in the set to see if the match could be suspended because the court was becoming slippery, but the pair played on until the announcement was made at 5-4, prompting jeers from the crowd.
The All England Club told the Guardian that the match had been called off because of fading light, while Shelton said he had been given a “five-minute warning until the Hawk-Eye was going down”. “That was including the changeover, so [he said] there wouldn’t be enough time to complete the game. I was telling him, ‘I only need 60 seconds’. That’s kind of what my goal was when I went out there today.”
Shelton said the umpire had told him he did not want the line-calling system to go down in the middle of a game. “At that point I’m not as upset about that decision. It was a difficult decision that was forced because of what they did earlier.”
The rest is here.
Gone in 69 seconds. Here’s how Ben Shelton finished the job against Rinky Hijikata earlier:
It’s fiesta time for the fans on No 2 Court, where the brilliant Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca is taking on Chile’s Nicolas Jarry in a noisy South American derby. The 18-year-old Fonseca will be the youngest man to reach the last 16 since 2011 if he wins, but has lost the first set 6-3.
Bellucci already looks like a young Roger Federer, and now he’s self-combusting like a young Roger Federer, as he hands an early break to Norrie in the second set. Norrie leads 7-6, 2-1.
Fritz recovers to 5-5, D-Fok gets a set point at 6-5 … and a backhand from Fritz flops into the net! Fritz has been hauled back to 6-4, 6-3, 6-7, having served for the match only moments ago.
Davidovich Fokina, or D-Fok as I may call him from now on, holds. So Fritz will need to win a tie-break if he’s to settle this in straight sets. The first six points are shared, so it’s 3-3 at the change of ends. And a Fritz double fault gives D-Fok the mini break for 5-3! That’s an inopportune moment to throw in a first double.
Kamilla Rakhimova’s run is over. The conqueror of last year’s runner-up Jasmine Paolini has lost 7-6, 7-5 to the Czech 30th seed Linda Noskova, who’ll face Anisimova next.
Fritz is broken serving for the match at 6-4, 6-3, 5-3. After two medical timeouts, for blisters on his feet and an issue with his elbow, the marathon man could really do with getting the job done in straight sets. The last thing he wants to do is get dragged into a third successive five-setter.
… which turns into 5-3, which should really then be 6-3, but Norrie makes a total mess of his volley! Instead they’re back on serve, with Norrie 5-4 ahead. At 5-5, an attritional rally between the two left-handers ends with a brilliant backhand pass from Norrie! Set point. And Norrie nabs the set 7-5 in the breaker, having earlier been 4-2 down in games, when Bellucci shanks his forehand!
It’s tie-break time between Norrie and Bellucci. Norrie begins the breaker with some old-school chip and charge, and it’s a tactic that comes off. 2-0. And 3-1, when Norrie unloads with a forehand cross-court winner after a lengthy exchange. Bellucci, who looks like an early-days Federer with his ponytail and headband, looks a little rattled, and they change ends at 4-2 …
Yara El-Shaboury
And here’s Yara El-Shaboury’s report:
Sonay Kartal reached the fourth round at a major for the first time with a dominant 6-4, 6-2 victory over the French qualifier Diane Parry.
Kartal started the third-round match on No 1 Court aggressively, putting Parry on the defensive, and unleashing an overhead smash winner to lead 30-15 in her opponent’s opening service game. Parry rallied with a beautiful forehand down the line before Kartal brought the game to deuce and earned a break point. Parry, undeterred, saved it with a well-placed volley winner and ultimately held serve after a hard-fought six-minute game.
The world No 103 then broke in Kartal’s first service game. The British No 3 fired down two successive aces before seeing her efforts negated by a double fault, pushing the game to deuce. Parry’s willingness to approach the net paid off handsomely, as a deft backhand volley winner earned her a break point and she secured it with a forehand into the corner.
Parry held serve to 30 in the third game, with an inch-perfect slice from her single-handed backhand, putting the pressure firmly on her opponent. The Frenchwoman continued to dominate at the net, executing a brilliant stretch volley winner off a backhand pass. However, after 21 minutes of play, Kartal finally got on the board, holding serve to 30, much to the appreciation of the Court No 1 crowd.
The tide began to turn in the sixth game of the first set with Kartal holding serve with an ace to finish the job. The atmosphere on Court No 1 was tense as she then surged to a 0-40 lead in the next game, earning three break points. Parry bravely saved the first two but the crowd roared their encouragement for the home player. Cue a tense, cat-and-mouse rally: Kartal attempted a drop shot, Parry dug out a shot to the baseline, and Kartal, opting for a down-the-line backhand instead of a lob, netted the shot. Parry’s second double-fault of the match presented Kartal with a fourth break point and her low slice forced Parry to net a forehand, and secured the break back.
You can read the rest here.
Norrie nudges 6-5 ahead on serve in the opening set. And Fritz is moving closer to the finish line, now 6-4, 6-3, 5-2 ahead against Davidovich Fokina.
Rublev’s asked on court about the positive reaction to the ATP documentary Breaking Back, in which he reflects on trying to gain a new outlook on life and tennis. He says the reaction has meant a lot to him. It’s such an absorbing watch:
Rublev beats Mannarino 7-5, 6-2, 6-3
While Siegemund was completing her victory, Norrie has been zooming through the games to get back to 4-4 in the opening set, but let’s go to No 3 Court first, because Andrey Rublev is serving for the match at 7-5, 6-2, 5-3 against France’s Adrian Mannarino. The normally self-combustible Rublev has been calm and composed today … but slips break point down. But Rublev recovers to deuce, his advantage and settles matters with an ace. Rublev’s prize (or punishment): a likely fourth-round meeting with Carlos Alcaraz.
Thanks Niall. So another seed bites the dust. The 37th of these championships, to be exact. Having finally got her hands on a grand slam title, at the Australian Open this year, the feeling was that it could free Keys to win more majors, but it’s the 30-year-old’s earliest Wimbledon exit since 2019. For Siegemund, though, she now has a tremendous chance to reach the quarter-finals, because up next is the lucky loser Solana Sierra.
Laura Siegemund: “I’m really happy – you have to be when you beat a great player like that – it was a tough match, very windy out here today.”
Was she nervous at the end? “Yes, if you’re not nervous then, you’re probably dead. But pressure is a privilege, and I try to remember that. I only play for myself, I don’t need to prove myself to anyone – my boyfriend often reminds me of that. I know what I can and cannot do, and if I do well I win, but I stay the same person.”
Very philosophical stuff. Siegemund will next face Solana Sierra, the “lucky loser” tearing up the draw, in the last 16. And here’s Katy …
Laura Siegemund beats Madison Keys 6-3. 6-3!
Keys moves 0-30 up,suddenly threatening to turn the match around – but Siegemund turns to her trusty drop shot, then finds the line with a lob to leave Keys shaking her head. A fourth match point – and this time, the return goes wide! Laura Siegemund, the oldest player in the women’s draw, is into the last 16 after a terrific old-school grass court performance – and another big game is out.
Maybe it’s because Bellucci’s headband and ponytail are giving Federer vibes, but Norrie hasn’t got going yet – he’s 3-1 down and finding every service game a bit of a struggle. Meanwhile on Centre Court, Fritz has taken the second set against Davidovich Fokina but also needed a medical timeout to treat blisters on his foot.
Keys lets out a scream of frustration as she slips 0-40 down, handing over three match points. She saves the first two with some ferocious hitting – and finally wins a point on second serve. We’re back to deuce, and two big first serves keep her in the game – but Siegemund will now serve for the match.
Norrie is made to work to get on the board, but holds serve in the third game. As for Madison Keys, she’s serving to stay in the tournament, 5-2 down against the irrepressible Siegemund.
In a year with a record number of seeds falling early, it’s almost a surprise to see Andrey Rublev still in the draw. He’s as prone to a baffling defeat as any other top-16 player, but is easing to victory against Mannarino, two sets and a break up. Unfortunately, his fourth-round opponent will probably be Carlos Alcaraz.
