Goat glides on grass

LONDON, July 8

Daniil Medvedev has been making up for lost time as he downed Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4 to match his best ever showing at Wimbledon by reaching the fourth round today.

The Moscow-born Medvedev survived a wayward opening set to topple an opponent who had won their only previous meeting at a Major.

When the 67th-ranked Fucsovics gave Medvedev the run-around in the opening set, with the Russian misfiring his returns time and again, visions of his 2020 Roland Garros first-round win over the third seed must have flashed through his mind. But Medvedev trampled on those dreams in the fourth game of the second set, when he broke Fucsovics to love after the Hungarian double-faulted to surrender his serve.

Playing under a closed Court One roof as the rain came down on a leafy southwest London, both players entertained the crowd with some acrobatic shot-making.

Fucsovics would have made Boris Becker proud with a couple of his diving volley winners and slam-dunk smashes, while Medvedev hit a stupendous crosscourt winner on the run after chasing down a drop shot from well behind the baseline. Once Medvedev had taken a two-sets-to-one lead by banging down an unreturnable serve, Fucsovics needed an injury time out to get his right ankle manipulated and strapped up by the trainer.

He got back on his feet and even earned a break point in the eighth game of the fourth set. But once he missed his chance to make it 4-4, his game quickly unravelled and Medvedev reached the last-16 of a Major for the first time this year by firing down an unreturnable serve.

“I really want to do well here. This is my worst Grand Slam in terms of results, even in Roland Garros I have managed to get into the quarters,” the third seed said, referring to clay.

Djokovic in a hurry

Stan Wawrinka said he stood no chance of beating Novak Djokovic in their third-round clash and the Swiss’ prediction proved spot on as he was outplayed on Centre Court. Walking out little more than two hours before Wimbledon’s 11pm curfew, seven-time champion Djokovic was in a hurry as he rattled through two sets and though he met more resistance after that he sealed a 6-3 6-1 7-6(5) win just before closing time.

His 31st consecutive match win at Wimbledon sent him into the last-16 of a Grand Slam for the 61st time in which he will face Poland’s 17th seed Hubert Hurkacz.

“We knew it was going to be really tight and it looked good for me the first two sets. He raised his level, the crowd got involved and hopefully you guys enjoyed it,” Djokovic said. Reuters

DAY 6: HIGHLIGHTS

Golden jubilee

Twice champion Petra Kvitova won in her 50th match at the All England Club with a 6-3 7-5 victory over Natalija Stevanovic in a third-round match that was suspended in the second set due to rain.

Just in time

Beatriz Haddad Maia beat Sorana Cirstea 6-2 6-2 to move into the fourth round for the first time in her career, just as the rain arrived and the covers came on.

Back in groove

Aryna Sabalenka kept alive her Wimbledon dream with a 6-2 6-3 third round victory against Anna Blinkova.

Alcaraz shifts gears

World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz always managed to find another gear against Nicolas Jarry in his 6-3 6-7(6) 6-3 7-5 victory. Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas is proving as durable as the Parthenon, beating Laslo Djere 6-4 7-6(5) 6-4.

Bopanna-Ebden make winning start

Wimbledon: India’s Rohan Bopanna and his doubles partner Matthew Ebden from Australia survived a scare before prevailing over Argentine duo of Guillermo Duran and Tomas Etcheverry to advance to the second round of the Wimbledon here. The sixth-seeded Indo-Australian duo outwitted the spirited Argentine pair 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (10-8) in their opening match.