Upsets ruled Day 4 at Wimbledon.
Liam Broady, a 29-year-old Brit who grew up four hours away from London in Stockport, England, provided the most shocking win over No. 4 Casper Ruud in the second round. Broady, the No. 142 ranked ATP player in the world, won the opening frame before he dropped the next two to his Norwegian opponent. Broady fired back, though, and won the final two sets to take the victory — his first against a top-10 player — 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0.
Then, No. 9 Taylor Fritz, who went to the 2022 Wimbledon quarterfinals, blew a two-set lead to unseeded Mikael Ymer. Fritz lost three consecutive sets to Ymer, who pulled off the incredible 2-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 comeback victory. This will be the furthest the 24-year-old Swede has advanced at Wimbledon.
Earlier in the day, two sides of the professional tennis age spectrum produced upsets as well.
Mirra Andreeva, a 16-year-old Russian who made her WTA debut in 2022, became the third-youngest player to reach the third round at Wimbledon in the Open Era after she advanced over 10th-seeded Barbora Krejčíková. Andreeva led 6-3, 4-0, before Krejčíková retired in the second set.
Meanwhile, 38-year-old Stan Wawrinka reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 2020 after he upset No. 29th seeded Tomás Martín Etcheverry out of Argentina. Wawrinka — who is 15 years older than Etcheverry — won the opening set, dropped the second set but cruised through the final two frames to win 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
If you want to feel old, Wawrinka had already competed in 12 Gran Slam tournaments — including two at Wimbledon — before Andreeva was born in 2007.
Wawrinka will now face Novak Djokovic, something Wawrinka joked about in his post-match interview.
So while Andreeva could be the future of women’s tennis, Wawrinka proved Thursday he can still very much play with the younger generation on the men’s side.
How did the Americans do?
While Fritz’s Wimbledon bid ended in defeat, the other top-10-ranked American, Frances Tiafoe, remained in the running after a three-set win over Dominic Stephan Stricker. But it wasn’t a walk in the park. Tiafoe and Stricker battled in an intense opening set that included 24 tiebreak points. Tiafoe grabbed the edge to snag the set and went on to win 7-6 (13-11), 6-4, 6-2.
No. 4 seeded Jessica Pegula cruised to the third round with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Cristina Bucșa.
Tommy Paul, another top-20-ranked player, won his match over Milos Raonic. The 16-seeded Paul won the first two sets, dropped the third and claimed the final frame to advance. The final score: 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 6-4.
Other Americans — Fritz included — didn’t fare so well:
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Sloane Stephens lost to No. 20 Donna Vekić in three sets, 6-4, 4-7, 4-6.
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Danielle Collins fell to No. 14 Belinda Bencic in three sets, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (10-2).
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No. 32 Ben Shelton lost to Laslo Djere, 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (5-7), 3-6.
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Sofia Kenin beat Wang Xinyu in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.
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J.J. Wolf lost to 23rd-seeded Alexander Bublik in three sets. Wolf had a chance to steal a frame when he forced a tiebreaker in the second set, but couldn’t pull off the win. Bublik’s final tally ended in a 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), 6-0 victory.
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Michael Mmoh won 15 games, but no sets in a loss to Maximilian Marterer. The German opponent won 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
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Alycia Parks lost to Ana Bogdan. Though Parks won the first frame, Bogdan rallied to win 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Other notable upsets
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Elise Mertens fell to Elina Svitolina in three sets. Svitolina, the unseeded Ukrainian, cruised to an opening set win, then faltered in the second only to rebound ferociously in the third and final frame. Svitolina beat the 28th-seeded Mertens out of Belgium 6-1, 1-6, 6-1. Svitolina recently made it to the French Open quarterfinals but hasn’t advanced to the semifinals of any Grand Slam since she did so at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2019.
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Markéta Vondroušová shocked No. 12 Veronika Kudermetova with a win in straight sets. Vondroušová, a 24-year-old Czech, had never advanced past the second round at Wimbledon. She won 6-3, 6-3.
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Jule Niemeier, a year removed from her quarterfinal appearance at last year’s Wimbledon, has eyes on a repeat performance after she beat 16th-seeded Karolína Muchová, 6-4, 7-5, 6-1.
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Unseeded Jiri Lehecka defeated 18th-seeded Francisco Cerundolo in three sets: 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.
Other notable results
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Reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, the No. 3 seed, beat Alizé Cornet in straight sets that included a furious tiebreaker in the second frame. Rybakina won 6-2, 7-6 (7-2).
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Andrey Rublev, the No. 7 seed, rebounded after an opening set loss to beat Aslan Karatsev in four sets, 6-7(4-7), 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.
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Caroline Garcia, the No. 5 seed, beat Leylah Annie Fernandez in three sets. Garcia dropped the first frame but won the final two, in the 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-6) victory.
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Alexander Zverev, fresh off his semifinal appearance at the French Open, battled to beat Gijs Brouwer in three sets. Zverev won 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5) to advance to the second round.
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Anett Kontaveit, the former No. 2 player in the world, will officially retire after she fell to No. 32 Marie Bouzková, 1-6, 2-6. The 27-year-old Kontaveit announced in June she would leave tennis after she was diagnosed with lumbar disc degeneration in her back.
Highlight of the day
Broady snagged a huge shot in his match against Ruud in front of his country:
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