Even though Novak Djokovic was nursing a dodgy right knee, toppling him at Wimbledon was never going to be easy for a Briton ranked 277th and so it proved as the Serb huffed and puffed into the third round with a 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 win over Jacob Fearnley.
The wild card, who was ranked outside the world’s top 500 just a month ago before shooting up almost 250 spots after winning a second tier Challenger event in Nottingham, will take away many memorable moments from his Centre Court debut.
He is unlikely to forget the high-risk, high-reward strategy he employed in the final game of the third set, which ended with Djokovic hacking a forehand wide to surrender his serve and the set — to the delight of the hollering crowd.
But all the heroics from a journeyman Scot, who until this week had never won a main tour match or even competed at a grand slam, were simply not enough to tame a player chasing a record-extending 372nd grand slam match win.
A forehand winner sealed Djokovic his passage into round three and kept him on course to win a record 25th grand slam title.
Hurkacz retires
Seventh seed Hubert Hurkacz became the third men’s top-eight player to make an early exit as he retired from his second-round clash against Frenchman Arthur Fils with a knee injury.
Having made a slow start, Hurkacz was on course to level the match at two sets apiece when he dived for a volley at the net in the fourth set tie-break to go 8-7 up, but landed badly and immediately clutched his right knee.
He limped on after a lengthy medical timeout, but was forced to throw in the towel at 7-6(2), 6-4, 2-6, 6-6 having gone down 9-8 in the tiebreak.
On Wednesday, world No. 1 Jannik Sinner survived an all-Italian Centre Court dogfight against Matteo Berrettini to book his place in the third round. Sinner edged the opening two sets on tie-breaks under the closed roof but was rocked on his heels by a Berrettini fightback before prevailing 7-6(3), 7-6(4), 2-6, 7-6(4).
No-nonsense victory
Iga Swiatek underlined her status as the world’s top player with an efficient 6-4, 6-3 victory over Croatian Petra Martic, her 21st match win in a row.
The 23-year-old Pole triumphed at the Madrid and Rome Opens as well as taking the Roland Garros title, before switching to the Wimbledon grass and reaching the third round.
Swiatek, who has won five grand slams but has never progressed beyond the quarter finals here, looked comfortable on the Centre Court grass, though she was tested at times by Martic’s hefty serve and groundstrokes.
Martic, 10 years Swiatek’s senior and ranked 85th in the world, fell and needed treatment after the seventh game of the first set but resumed apparently unimpeded.
Swiatek clinched the first set on her first break point with an attacking forehand that Martic could only dump into the net.
She broke Martic’s serve in the eighth game of the second set, earned match point with a big forehand winner and finished the contest with a serve that Martic netted.
Elena Rybakina, the fourth seed, prevailed over German veteran Laura Siegemund 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Tunisian Ons Jabeur, the tenth seed, has moved to the third round. Jabeur downed Robin Montgomery 6-1, 7-5 in straight sets.
It was a clinical performance from Jabeur, who is aiming to reach her third successive final at Wimbledon.
Kasatkina on song
Britain’s big day at the grasscourt slam began in demoralising fashion for wild card Lily Miyazaki as she was thrashed 6-0, 6-0 by Russia’s Daria Kasatkina in less than an hour on Court 18.
Fourteenth seed Kasatkina was in a merciless mood as she dispatched the British No. 4 in the second round. It was the first so-called ‘double-bagel’ at this year’s Championships.
The US Stars and Stripes fluttered feebly for Jessica Pegula as the fifth seed was ousted in the second round by China’s Wang Xinyu 6-4, 6-7(9), 6-1 on American Independence Day.
The Chinese player blasted 38 winners which, combined with 33 unforced errors from Pegula, secured victory and a third round match-up against Harriet Dart who beat fellow Briton Katie Boulter in a tense three-set thriller.
For Wang, world No. 42, the victory was her first over a top 10 player.
“Couple of days ago I was asking my coach when will this happen,” Wang said. “Jessica was really tough to play on grass. Her ball was super low and I’m just really happy I won in the end.”
For Pegula the loss was an ignominious crash back to earth on the back of some great form heading into this tournament.
In the Berlin lead-up event she saved five match points in the final to win her first career grass title with victory over Anna Kalinskaya and had high hopes of improving
on last year’s quarter-final finish here.
Yuki, partner advance
India’s Yuki Bhambri and his French partner Albano Olivetti prevailed against a quality pair to move to the men’s doubles second round but Olympic-bound N. Sriram Balaji made an exit with Luke Johnson, here on Thursday.
Bhambri and Olivetti downed the Kazakh duo of Alexander Bublik and Alexander Shevchenko 6-4, 6-4 in 58 minutes at court nine.
Meanwhile, Balaji, who will compete at the Olympics with Rohan Bopanna, lost the first round with British partner Johnson. They fell 4-6, 5-7 to fourth seeds Marcelo Alevaro from Salvador and Croatian Mat Pavic.
