London: Two-time champion Andy Murray will resume Friday his match with third seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece at Wimbledon Friday, hoping to overcome the Greece player in a battle of attrition which they will continue on the Centre Court.
The match was stopped after two hours and 52 minutes at 11 pm Thursday with Murray leading two sets to one, with the score reading 6-7(3), 7-6(2), 6-4 in favour of the Briton.
But that will not be the only important clash that the fans will be looking forward to Friday.
World No.1 and top seed Carlos Alcaraz will resume his quest for grasscourt success when he takes on Frenchman Alexandre Muller for a place in the last 32.
Last year’s runner-up Ons Jabeur of Tunisia will continue her pursuit with a second-round clash with Chinese qualifier Zhuoxuan Bai. ARyna Sabalenka, the No.2 seed who won her first Grand Slam at this year’s Australian Open, plays Varvara Gracheva of France in the second round.
But the biggest clash of the day will pit three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland against defending champion and second seed Novak Djokovic.
Wawrinka has prevented Djokovic from reaching the record of 23 Grand Slam titles earlier than he did at the 2023 French Open by beating the Serb in two finals — 2015 Roland-Garros and the 2016 US Open.
Friday, they will meet in the third round at Wimbledon and one can expect a setback if Djokovic is not careful.
Wawrinka set up that intriguing clash by taking out No.29 seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in second-round action and is through to a Grand Slam third round for the first time since Roland Garros 2020.
“Don’t tell me the [head-to-head] score,” Wawrinka joked when being asked about his long rivalry with the Serbian.
“I will enjoy it if I don’t get killed,” laughed the Swiss. “He’s been an amazing champion to watch, the way he’s playing, it’s always special. But we never played on grass and I’m quite happy to have the chance to play against him on grass at least one time before I finish playing. It’s going to be a big challenge.
“Hopefully I can play at a higher level and be competitive in the match. I’m going to, like always I did against him, try to push the maximum and we’ll see what happens.”
Wawrinka hasn’t made it past the second round at Wimbledon since 2015 and admitted his chances will be slim against Djokovic, who is going for a fifth consecutive triumph at the All-England Club, and eighth overall. “There’s zero opportunity to win Wimbledon for me, I think,” said Wawrinka.
Meanwhile, women’s defending champion Elena Rybakina came through an eventful second round on Thursday, which saw her opponent Alize Cornet take a nasty fall before completing a 6-2, 7-6(2) victory over the French veteran.
The second set alone lasted 82 minutes and saw the third-seeded Rybakina commit an uncharacteristic 32 unforced errors.
Cornet — a self-described giant-slayer — has a history of pulling off big upsets at Wimbledon, having snapped Iga Swiatek’s 37-match winning streak at the Championships last year, and having defeated top-seeded Serena Williams here back in 2014.
But Rybakina would not suffer a similar fate, as she saved all six break points she faced during the match to move into a third-round meeting against home favourite Katie Boulter.
“For sure the atmosphere is going to be a bit different. The crowd won’t be supporting me that much. I’m sure it’s going to be good. Hopefully, I’m going to win this match. I try my best. We see how it’s going to go,” Rybakina looked upon her next-round match.
Croatia’s Donna Vekic looked down and out when she trailed former US Open champion Sloane Stephens 4-6, 2-5 in their second round on Thursday.
But the No.20 seed somehow turned things around and walked away having won 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, moving into the Wimbledon third round for the first time since 2018.
An emotional Vekic couldn’t hold back tears during her on-court interview.
“I always said to my team that I think Sloane is one of the best players in the world and I think she showed that today. It was an incredibly tough match today and I honestly cannot believe I won,” said Vekic, who faces Czech lefty Marketa Vondrousova next.
Earlier, Sweden’s world No.59 Mikael Ymer rallied back from two-sets-to-love down to upset last year’s quarter-finalist and No.9 seed Taylor Fritz 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 and reach the Wimbledon third round for the first time on his third appearance.
IANS