Day five of the men’s singles at Wimbledon featured several excellent matchups on paper, and many of these delivered. The adverse weather on previous days meant a mixture of second round and third round matches were played. Sascha Zverev and Daniil Medvedev progressed to the third round, while Andrey Rublev’s win took him to the fourth round. Read on to discover who else looked good, who looked bad and which match was the best on an absorbing day at SW19.
Wimbledon Day 5 Recap
Who looked good
Novak Djokovic renewed his iconic rivalry with Stanislas Wawinka on Centre Court. But Djokovic proved far too good this time to win 6-3 6-1 7-6 and progress to the fourth round. The 23-time Grand Slam champion did not concede a single break point, and he struck the ball as cleanly as ever to overwhelm the Swiss. The three-time Grand Slam champion deserves credit for not throwing in the towel, and he vastly improved his serving in the third set to make it a competitive watch. It was great to see him back on Centre Court again, but Djokovic was a level above.
Carlos Alcaraz was also a straight sets winner as he came through 6-4 7-6 6-3 against Alexandre Muller to make the third round. Alcaraz always felt in control despite each set being relatively close on paper, although Muller produced some excellent shots of his own. Alcaraz’s net play stood out as he won 24 of 29 points at the net. The only blemish was his performance on second serve return, where he won just 29% of points.
Holger Rune is also into the third round with a 6-3 7-6 6-4 win over Roberto Carballes Baena. The Dane has slipped slightly under the radar as Djokovic and Alcaraz take the headlines, but he is doing his job efficiently. Rune was extremely aggressive, hitting 45 winners. He will need to tidy up some of the unforced errors to beat the top players in the draw, but he has reasons to be satisfied.
Jannik Sinner overcame a difficult start and a dangerous opponent to reach the fourth round in a 3-6 6-2 6-3 6-4 win over Quentin Halys. The Frenchman Halys came out swinging with nothing to lose and seemed to surprise Sinner with his level in the first set. But last year’s quarterfinalist did well to steady himself and coped better with the style of Halys in the next three sets, finding his own range in the process. Sinner is known for his powerful game, but he covered 182 metres more than Halys, showing his willingness to dig in when he needs too.
Matteo Berrettini was something of an unknown before the Championships started after the injury problems he’s had. But he is silencing the doubters now. The 2021 finalist beat Queen’s runner-up Alex de Minaur 6-3 6-4 6-4. Berrettini was not broken, his slice was biting and effective, and he unleashed many devastating forehands. There was not much de Minaur could do. The Italian plays Zverev in the third round next in what could be an epic match.
Who looked bad
12th seed and least year’s semifinalist Cameron Norrie was a 6-3 3-6 6-2 7-6 loser to recent Mallorca champion Christopher Eubanks in the second round. The American showed the form that took him to his first title just a few days ago, serving hugely and backing it up with an ultra aggressive style. But Norrie never reached his best level. The Brit missed a large number of makeable returns, and dealt poorly with the variety in Eubanks game such as his net play.
Lorenzo Musetti had a frustrating third round match against Hubert Hurkacz. The first set was evenly contested before the Italian made some sloppy mistakes in the tiebreak to hand his Polish opponent the opening set. Musetti lost the next two sets 6-4 6-4 and never looked like challenging Hurkacz. He needs to improve his backhand return against big servers. It was a major liability throughout the match.
Jason Kubler missed a good opportunity to reach the third round on Court 8. He was defeated 7-5 5-7 6-3 6-4 by Nicolas Jarry, who is predominantly a clay court specialist. Jarry did serve excellently, firing 30 aces. But the Australian leaked 50 unforced errors, handing Jarry a place in the third round.
Match of the day
It was only two sets long, but the completion of Andy Murray’s clash with Stefanos Tsitsipas is still winner of match of the day. Murray led the second-round match by two sets to one, with many overnight feeling Murray with the crowd behind him and having won the previous two sets would finish the job. But the fifth seed produced an incredible level to win the last two sets 7-6 6-4 to win the match in five sets. The Greek had been written off by some before the tournament after a string of poor results, but his serve and forehand were on fire to beat the two-time Wimbledon champion. Both men were outstanding over the two days in a great contest.
Main photo credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
