Late-night finishes and five-set matches are becoming a habit for Taylor Fritz at Wimbledon this year.
On Wednesday, he wrapped up his win over Gabriel Diallo before the match was suspended — making sure the fifth-seeded American would not have to come back on court for a fourth straight day.
Fritz overcame a bloodied elbow to win 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/0), 4-6, 6-3 on No. 1 Court a day after he finished off another five-set win over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in a match that was halted on Monday at about 10:15pm after Fritz forced a fifth set with Wimbledon’s 11pm curfew looming.
Photo: AP
He completed the win over Diallo a little later than that on Wednesday.
“That’s an incredibly hard match,” Fritz said. “The fourth set that I lost, I really don’t think there’s much I did wrong at all.”
Fritz sustained a cut to his elbow after diving to reach a ball when he had break point while trailing 3-2 in the fourth set. While he returned the ball, Diallo won the point and went on to hold serve.
Photo: EPA
Fritz was looking forward to a day off.
“Tomorrow [yesterday] is going to be a very, a very light hit. I think I’ve played plenty of tennis,” he said. “I’m very due a nice, relaxing day.”
In the women’s doubles on Wednesday, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Wu Fang-hsien won their first-round matches at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in London.
Chan and partner Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic defeated Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan and the US’ Peyton Stearns 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, while Wu and Jiang Xinyu of China downed Chinese pair Zhu Lin and Tang Qianhui 6-4, 6-4.
Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia were to play their first-round game after press time last night against Oksana Kalashnikova of Georgia and Russia’s Elena Pridankina.
In the men’s doubles, Taiwan’s Ray Ho and Yunchaokete Bu of China were to play Argentina’s Horacio Zeballosa and Marcel Granollers of Spain.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Tainan TSG Hawks slugger Steven Moya, who is leading the CPBL in home runs, has withdrawn from this weekend’s All-Star Game after the unexpected death of his wife. Moya’s wife began feeling severely unwell aboard a plane that landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday evening. She was rushed to a hospital, but passed away, the Hawks said in a statement yesterday. The franchise is assisting Moya with funeral arrangements and hopes fans who were looking forward to seeing him at the All-Star Game can understand his decision to withdraw. According to Landseed Medical Clinic, whose staff attempted to save Moya’s wife,
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt yesterday backed Nick Champion de Crespigny to be the team’s “roving scavenger” after handing him a shock debut in the opening Test against the British and Irish Lions Test in Brisbane. Hard man Champion de Crespigny, who spent three seasons at French side Castres before moving to the Western Force this year, is to get his chance tomorrow with first-choice blindside flanker Rob Valetini not fully fit. His elevation is an eye-opener, preferred to Tom Hooper, but Schmidt said he had no doubt about his abilities. “I keep an eye on the Top 14 having coached there many years
Ukrainian coal miner Andrii’s face lit up when he talked about meeting Oleksandr Usyk. “Wow,” the 36-year-old said in English. Andrii and more than a dozen other war veterans were on hand when Usyk beat Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night to become the undisputed world heavyweight champion. It was a rematch of their 2023 bout that Andrii viewed under vastly different circumstances. “I watched this fight on the front line on my phone,” he said through an interpreter during a stop on Friday at the Ukrainian Embassy in London. “We were watching very quietly, but when he won there was loud
Saudi Arabia yesterday were drawn to take on Iraq and Indonesia in the fourth phase of Asia’s preliminaries for next year’s FIFA World Cup, with back-to-back Asian Cup winners Qatar to face the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman. The winners of each of the three-team groups, which are to be played in October, would join already-qualified Australia, Japan, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Iran and Jordan at next year’s expanded 48-nation finals in the US, Canada and Mexico. Saudi Arabia, who are attempting to qualify for a seventh World Cup finals since 1994, are to host Group A and open against Indonesia on
RSS