Denis Shapovalov reaches the knockout stage at Wimbledon

The 24-year-old Torontonian took just over 3 hours and 11 minutes to beat Britain’s Liam Brodie, the 142nd racket of the world and foremost crowd favorite on Court No. 2, in four sets of 4-6, 6-2, 7 – 5. and 7-5.

You’d think that with 14 aces and 8 breaks on 15 occasions, Shapovalov would have a stress-free game.

The problem is that he himself had five fractures as well as committing 14 double faults and a total of 60 unforced errors.

In this dangerous little game, Brody is allowed to believe in it. The player who eliminated the Norwegian Casper Ruud in the previous round often played tennis without complications, despite the unenviable rate of 54% of the first balls in play (70/130).

The defining moment was undoubtedly the turnaround in the third set when Shapovalov, trailing 2-5, came from behind to win 7-5. He did not hesitate to praise his opponent today.

For now, I just tried to stay as solid and focused as possible. It worked, but again I feel very lucky that I made it work. You have shown a lot of courage to make it happen. I admit I almost broke down when the audience started chanting Brody’s nameHe confessed, prompting laughter and a final chorus in the crowd.

The level of play was very high today. It was a great game of tennis for both of us. I am very happy to take the victory. I was lucky to take the third set, otherwise I would have found myself in serious troubleShapovalov admitted in his post-match interview on the field.

” I’m lucky he ran five races yesterday (Thursday), otherwise I can’t imagine what he could have done today. »

Meanwhile, Shapovalov’s knee appears to be taking hold. He reached the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time in two years. Then he lost in the semifinals to Novak Djokovic.

To move on, he will have to defeat Russian-Romanian Safiulin, ranked 92nd in the world.

Alcaraz without damage

For his part, Carlos Alcaraz reached the third round. To do this, he beat Alexander Muller 6-4, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.

Thus, the Spaniard achieved his fourteenth victory in his last 15 matches in Grand Slam tournaments, a series dating back to his victory in the US Open in September 2022.

Muller, ranked 84 in the ATP, is the second French victim of the world number one, who also showed the exit of Jerome Chardy in the last match of his career.

Alcaraz took timely breaks in the first and third sets, as well as scoring the obvious hit in the second-set tiebreaker.

With only one double fault and only 13 errors in the game, he left few chances for his opponent to turn the tide.

After saving two break points in the final game, he finished with his second game point after 2 hours and 32 minutes of play.

In the next round, he will face Chilean Nicolas Jarry (No. 25), winner 7-5, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 ahead of Australian Jason Kubler, 77 on the ATP.

Daniil Medvedev has the eighth position within reach of the racket.

Photo: dpa via getty Images/ADRIAN DENNIS

Medvedev is moving forward

Daniil Medvedev (No. 3) completed his match in the second round, which was interrupted the day before due to darkness, by knocking out Frenchman Adrien Mannarino (35), 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).

Off time, Thursday night, lead 6-3, 6-3, 4-4. He only had to play four matches and break a tie on Friday to earn his ticket to the third round, where he will find American Marcus Giron (65th) or Hungarian Marton Vosovic (67th).

I really acted as if the match continued (Thursday). I took a shower, but did not wash my hairMedvedev said to explain how he faced the outage.

Wimbledon, among the four major tournaments, is the least successful for Medvedev, whose best result was the round of 16 he played in 2021, before he was banned from participating last year, like all Russian and Belarusian players, due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Tsitsipas in the third round

Stefanos Tsitsipas finally won his second round match against Andy Murray. He won in 5 sets by 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (2/7), 4-6, 7-6 (7/3) and 6-4.

The Greek hit 16 aces and made a double fault only once. The match lasted over 4 hours and 40 minutes, having been halted Thursday night due to the local 11pm curfew.

At the time of the break, the Briton was leading 6-7, 7-6, 6-4.

Emerging winner

For his part, the Dane Holger Rune (#6) qualified for the third round, not winning a single match. He eliminated Spaniard Roberto Karballes Baena (57th place) in three sets 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4.

In the next round, Ron will try to advance to the round of 16 against Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich (34) or Dutchman Butik van de Zandschol (44).

In his first participation, last year, Ron was knocked out from the start and had nothing but defeats on this deck. This year, before coming to the All England Club, he won his first grass matches on the track to reach the semi-finals at the Queen’s Championship.