Wimbledon 2023: Medvedev, Tsitsipas, Alcaraz and Rune though to last 16
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 on Saturday.
A year after being banned from playing at the All England Club following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 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 runaround 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.
Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas is proving as durable as the Parthenon at this year’s Wimbledon after reaching the second week still very much standing after victory over Serbia’s Laslo Djere.
A day after throwing cold water over British hopes by out-lasting Andy Murray in a five-set cliffhanger spanning two days on Centre Court, he returned to dispatch Serbia’s Djere in more straightforward fashion, winning 6-4 7-6(5) 6-4.
The 24-year-old’s energy levels looked undiminished despite it being his fifth successive day on court, a shift that began with a first-round five-setter against former U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem — a match that took two days to complete.
His clash with Murray, where he battled the two-time Wimbledon champion and the 15,000 fans for nearly five hours, was the longest match in the tournament so far.
He has spent eight hours and 46 minutes on court and a more relaxing Sunday is well-earned.
After that he will focus on his fourth round match against unseeded American Christopher Eubanks who continued his impressive run on grass with victory over Christopher O’Connell on Saturday.
Tsitsipas pocketed the first set when Djere faltered serving at 4-5, double-faulting on set point.
He found himself a break down in the second set but once he repaired that damage and took the tiebreak it was relatively smooth for the elegant Greek shot-maker.
For all the waspish energy and venomous hitting, it was Carlos Alcaraz’s ability to turn up the dial under pressure that saw him come through a testing encounter with Nicolas Jarry and move safely into the fourth round.
The world number one was frequently on the ropes against the imposing Chilean but always managed to find another gear as he wrapped up a 6-3 6-7(6) 6-3 7-5 victory on Centre Court to set up a tantalising encounter with either Alexander Zverev or Matteo Berrettini.
The US Open winner ultimately had too much in his locker to be sent packing by Jarry, but he still showed some vulnerability at times that better opponents than the 28th-ranked Jarry will seize on.
The Chilean, who looks even bigger than his stated 6-foot six-inch frame, played the role of David to Alcaraz’s more diminutive tennis Goliath.
His slingshot was a massive and relentlessly consistent serve and a pummelling forehand that at times did real damage to the Spaniard.
“I stayed focused, all the time,” he said on court after securing the win. “I knew I was going to have my chances. It was really close, he has great shots, very solid.”
The Centre Court crowd had seemed uncertain where to place their loyalties at times during the contest.
In need of a new darling, in the absence of their beloved Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal and with Andy Murray having been knocked out, Alcaraz has been tipped as the man to steal their hearts.
Yet they struggled to completely embrace the Spaniard when a compelling underdog story was brewing.
The Spaniard’s sublime shotmaking drew some gasps, but Jarry’s dogged resistance ensured the crowd did not wholeheartedly rally behind Alcaraz when he was under the cosh.
Not that he cared. “I am really happy to play here – it is something I dreamed since I very young,” he said.
“This court is the most beautiful court I have played on.”
What had looked like being a routine outing for Alcaraz when he claimed the first set after a solitary break, quickly turned into something more troublesome as Jarry raced into a 4-1 lead in the second.
While Alcaraz clawed back parity, the Chilean served like his life depended on it to level the match in the tiebreak.
Alcaraz got his nose in front once more but if he hoped to have dealt a decisive blow by winning the third set, Jarry had other ideas, racing into a 3-0 lead at the start of the fourth.
That, however, brought out the best in the Spaniard who finished off the contest with two further breaks, wrapping up the match with two massive serves that were just too hot for Jarry to handle.
