It took two days, 4 hours and 5 units to separate Stefanos Tsitsipas and Dominic Thiem at Wimbledon, and however for tiebreaks being launched in recent times they may properly nonetheless be enjoying.
Tsitsipas is at the moment ranked fifth on the earth and Austrian Thiem 91st, however each have been as excessive as No.3. And had the latter not spent greater than a 12 months preventing and coming back from harm he can be quite a bit greater.
Ultimately it was Tsitsipas who prevailed on Wednesday, in a match of three tiebreakers 3-6 7-6 (7-1) 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (10-8), however the Greek has little time to have fun.
On Thursday the 24-year-old faces two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray on his Centre Court dwelling. Murray could have a metallic hip, however he spent Wednesday taking it simple after reaching the second spherical on Tuesday.
“It was pretty stressful I won’t lie,” mentioned Tsitsipas.
“Dominic is someone that has brought the best out of me every single time that we had the opportunity to play each other.”
Tsitsipas, who will probably be making his Centre Court debut, mentioned of going through Murray: “I’m not expecting anyone supporting (me). It’s not my first rodeo.”
It is 10 years because the Scot first lifted the trophy in SW19, and Tsitsipas mentioned: “I remember witnessing his first Wimbledon title. Thinking about it now gives me goosebumps because I sort of felt what he went through because it was so difficult for him to close that last game.
“Every time I see that once more it provides me shivers. I’ll go into it with numerous respect for him. He’s such a tricky competitor. That (Centre Court) is sort of like his front room.”
The pair have met twice previously – a five-set epic at the US Open in 2021 when the defeated Murray was upset at the length of the Greek’s toilet breaks, and in Stuttgart on grass last summer where Murray claimed one of his best wins since hip surgery.
Elsewhere it was a quiet day for the leading men.
In one of the few second round matches played Australia’s Jordan Thompson acquitted himself well against second seed Novak Djokovic on Centre Court, serving impressively and showing a nice touch around the net, but he lost 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 7-5.
Jannik Sinner, the Italian No.8 seed, is also into the third round after beating Diego Swartzmann of Argentina 7-5 6-1 6-2.
In first round action, third seed Daniil Medvedev overcame Arthur Fery 7-5 6-4 6-3 and was pleased with his reception after Russian players were banned last year due to the war on Ukraine.
“I used to be fairly nervous,” Medvedev mentioned.
“Thank you for the good welcome, particularly towards Arthur, a British man. It was wonderful as I did not know what reception I’d get and it was unbelievable.”
Danish sixth seed Holger Rune sailed into the second round for the first time with a straight sets victory over another British wildcard George Loffhagen.
No.9 seed Taylor Fritz battled past Yannick Hanfmann of Germany in five sets while fellow American Frances Tiafoe, the No.10 seed, eased past China’s Wu Yibing.
The Wimbledon debutant had beaten Nick Kyrgios in his only match this year in s’Hertogenbosch but found facing a fit top-level opponent on grass a harder task.
The highest-ranked player to fall was Croatian 13th seed Borna Coric who suffered a shock loss to Argentina’s Guido Pella in a five-set match lasting three-and-a-half hours.
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Source: www.perthnow.com.au
