Day 4 of the men’s singles took place without any interruptions from the weather, protestors, or any other factors. This allowed a long and full day of play to take place, packed with high quality tennis. Andrey Rublev was a four-set winner to progress to the third round. Wo else looked good, which players were victims of upsets, and which match stood out most on a day where play didn’t end until 10:40pm local time?
Wimbledon Day 4 Recap
Who looked good
Sascha Zverev vs Gijs Brouwer is the only first round match in this recap, after being repeatedly delayed by the weather of the previous two days. Zverev prevailed 6-4 7-6 7-6. The German performed reasonably well. His serve worked particularly well, not being broken all match. The US Open finalist will hope to improve the other parts of his game somewhat in the upcoming rounds, but he was strong in the big moments.
Daniil Medvedev’s second round match with Adrian Mannarino was viewed by many as a potential banana skin after the Frenchman beat him on grass a few weeks ago. But Medvedev holds a 6-3 6-3 4-4 lead overnight, with the match being suspended due to poor light. The third seed was less rushed by Mannarino’s flat shots than the previous time they met, and also dealt better with Mannarino’s lefty serve out wide which was a problem for Mannarino with how far back he stands on the return. He will be confident of completing victory.
Francis Tiafoe won in straight sets again and produced a very good performance against Dominic Stricker. 7-6 6-4 6-2 was the final score. Stricker has some big groundstrokes and did not play a bad match. But Tiafoe struck 48 winners compared to just 23 unforced errors, looking in fine form.
The evergreen Stanislas Wawrinka set up a third round to savour with a 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-2 against Tomas Etcheverry. The three-time Grand Slam champion will now meet 23-time grand slam champion Novak Djokovic in the next round. The two have played iconic matches such as the 2015 French Open and the 2016 US Open final, but it will be their first meeting on grass. Wawrinka played well today, but he will have to find additional gears to compete against Djokovic.
Wild card Liam Broady was in inspired form as he knocked out fourth seed Casper Ruud 4-6 6-3 6-4 3-6 6-0. Despite Ruud’s shortcomings, Broady performed far better than a man ranked outside the Top 100, serving big, moving well and looking more solid and secure than Ruud throughout the match.
Who looked bad
There were three quite significant upsets on Day 4.
Last year’s quarterfinalist Taylor Fritz suffered the most surprising defeat of the day. He collapsed from two sets up, losing 3-6 2-6 6-3 6-4 6-2 to Mikael Ymer. Although Ymer deserves much praise for his skill and fighting spirit in the last three sets, it was a somewhat extraordinary capitulation from Fritz, who should have a game so suited to grass. The current American number one racked up the unforced errors, and his consistent underachievement at Grand Slams must be addressed somehow.
Despite Ruud’s opponent being ranked lower than Fritz’s, the Norwegian’s defeat was slightly less surprising due to his known struggles on grass. But this was still a very poor loss for the three-time Grand Slam finalist. His movement never looked secure, and his deep second serve return position played into Broady’s hands on a grass court. He surrendered tamely in the final set, but in truth Ruud has never seemed invested in the grass court season, and one suspects he will draw a line under this loss quickly.
18th seed Francisco Cerundolo’s match against Jiri Lehecka was not expected to be easy. But surely not even Lehecka himself would have expected the 6-2 6-2 6-2 mauling he inflicted on the Argentine. Cerundolo won the tournament in Eastbourne just a few days ago, and would have entered Wimbledon with confidence. But he looked rushed throughout the match, completely unable to effectively use his forehand which is normally such a weapon.
Match of the day
It may not have been played to completion, but the three captivating sets played by Andy Murray and Stefanos Tsitsipas under the roof on Centre Court is the match of the day. Murray leads 6-7 7-6 6-4 overnight. Tsitsipas was in great form and played his best sets on grass so far this year, hitting his forehand and serve excellently. But Murray’s performance was reminiscent of the man who had so much success before his troublesome hip slowed him down for so long. He moved swiftly and was incredibly consistent, making just two unforced errors in the second set. The match was stopped at 10:40pm as the curfew hit, but its completion is not to be missed.
Main Photo Credit: Peter van den Berg-USA TODAY Sports
