TENNIS – Defending Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz was put through the wringer again yesterday before moving into the fourth round but fellow Grand Slam winners Naomi Osaka and Madison Keys fell by the wayside at the All England Club.
Britain’s Sonay Kartal and Cameron Norrie sailed through, but British number one Emma Raducanu crashed out of Wimbledon after falling agonisingly short of top seed Aryna Sabalenka in a gripping third-round match on Centre Court.
The match began a tad belatedly with Alcaraz pushed to the limit and taken to four sets by German Jan-Lennard Struff before the second seed prevailed 6-1 3-6 6-3 6-4 after some luck towards the end of the match.
A missed volley with an open court in front of him halted Struff’s momentum after eight games and Alcaraz pounced shortly afterwards for the break he needed to lay the platform for a hard-fought victory.
Struff’s compatriot Laura Siegemund, the oldest woman left in the singles draw at 37, earlier sealed a 6-3 6-3 victory over Australian Open champion Keys, who joined the exodus of star players at the year’s third Grand Slam.
Sixth seed Keys looked a far cry from the player who lifted her maiden major in Melbourne this year, the American racking up 31 unforced errors and producing wayward serves on her way out of the door.
Taylor Fritz ensured that there would still be some Fourth of July celebrations for Americans at Wimbledon as some final-set fireworks moved him into the last 16 with a 6-4 6-3 6-7(5) 6-1 win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
The fifth seed, who has spent more than nine hours on court across 14 gruelling sets, said he was fresher than ever ahead of his meeting with Australian Jordan Thompson.
“This is going to sound crazy,” said Fritz, who has been suffering tendinitis in his knee and had to deal with a bruised arm after a fall.
“My body is actually feeling better after each match,” he said. “I feel like somehow it felt the worst after my first round but now it’s getting better.”
Sabalenka looked shaken and stirred as it appeared she would become the most high-profile name to join the mass exodus of Wimbledon seeds before her survival instincts kicked in to secure a 7-6(6) 6-4 third-round win over Raducanu.
Wimbledon fans are no strangers to floodlit blockbusters featuring British home favourites, with Andy Murray providing plenty of late-night thrills under a closed Centre Court roof during his stellar career.
Last night, it was Raducanu’s turn to provide all the drama as she surged to a 4-2 lead in the first set and was again up 4-1 in the second.
The 22-year-old kept her Belarusian opponent guessing with her breathtaking shot-making that earned her a break in the fifth game to the delight of the 15,000-strong crowd who roared on every Raducanu winner and cheered on every Sabalenka error.
Although Sabalenka, the sole survivor among the top six women’s seeds, gained back the break, she was left shell-shocked when she missed seven set, and break, points at 5-4 on Raducanu’s serve, with the Briton serving her way out of trouble.
At the eighth time of asking, in the tiebreak, Sabalenka finally silenced the crowd when she produced a stop volley to bag the set, her achievement being greeted by only a smattering of applause.
When Raducanu surged into a 4-1 lead in the second, and was one point away from taking a 5-1 lead, it seemed that she might pull off one of the most improbable wins against an opponent who has contested the last three Grand Slam finals.
But it was not meant to be as Sabalenka turned on the power to win the last five games and extinguish Raducanu’s hopes of reaching the fourth round for the third time, with the Briton netting a service return on match point.
Amanda Anisimova progressed to the fourth round with a 6-3 5-7 6-3 win over Hungarian Dalma Galfi.
Local favourite Kartal moved on with a remarkable display against French qualifier Diane Parry, claiming nine games in a row to come from 1-4 down to win 6-4 6-2.
Fellow Briton Norrie then saw off Mattia Bellucci 7-6(5) 6-4 6-3 to set up a meeting with Chilean Nicolas Jarry, who overcame Brazilian wonder kid Joao Fonseca 6-3 6-4 3-6 7-6(4) in a South American showdown on Court Two.
At 38, tennis showman Gael Monfils is two decades older than Fonseca and the Frenchman was more sage than sour after his 6-4 1-6 4-6 7-6(5) 6-4 defeat by Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics.
“To tell you that I would have won the match is too much,” Monfils said.
It was the end of the road for Monfils’s wife Elina Svitolina too as the Ukrainian 14th seed fell 6-1 7-6(4) against 24th seed Elise Mertens. Osaka looked every bit the Grand Slam great for a set before losing 3-6 6-4 6-4 to Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.