Wimbledon: Wawrinka units up third spherical conflict in opposition to Djokovic

Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka returns to Argentina’s Tomas Martín Etcheverry in a males’s singles match on day 4 of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, Thursday, July 6, 2023. (AP Picture/Alberto Pezzali)

Andy Murray takes on Stefanos Tsitsipas within the standout match at Wimbledon on Thursday in a contest with a spicy historical past after Stan Wawrinka arrange a tasty conflict with Novak Djokovic.

Defending girls’s champion Elena Rybakina can also be in second-round motion as match chiefs scramble to catch up after rain performed havoc with the schedule.

Fifth seed Tsitsipas defeated two-time Wimbledon champion Murray in a five-set first-round epic which stretched to virtually 5 hours on the US Open in 2021.

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Britain’s Murray was livid that the Greek took a medical timeout after dropping the third set after which an eight-minute rest room break on the finish of the fourth.

Former world primary Murray sarcastically tweeted: “Truth of the day. It takes Stefanos Tsitsipas twice as lengthy to go the toilet because it takes Jeff Bezos to fly into area. Fascinating.”

Nonetheless, forward of their conflict on Centre Court docket, Tsitsipas mentioned the 2 males had buried the hatchet.

“I believe it has been settled already a very long time in the past. We needed to play Laver Cup collectively in the identical workforce. I’ve forgotten about it. He has forgotten about it,” he mentioned after seeing off Dominic Thiem in 5 units on the All England Membership on Wednesday.

‘Somebody I respect’

“He’s somebody that I respect. He has executed nice issues in tennis. I’m trying ahead to this match.”

Tsitsipas has by no means performed on Centre Court docket, the place Murray captured the 2013 and 2016 Wimbledon titles.

Whereas he needed to play his opening match with Thiem over two days as a result of torrential rain that worn out a lot of the programme on Tuesday, Murray had the benefit of seeing off Ryan Peniston underneath the Centre Court docket roof.

That gave the 36-year-old an additional day of relaxation on Wednesday, which might be an element, although he’s 12 years older than his opponent.

There have been a clutch of first-round matches on Thursday, together with Alexander Zverev’s conflict in opposition to Dutch qualifier Gijs Brouwer.

The chaos implies that whereas males’s defending champion Djokovic performed his second-round match on Wednesday, high seed Carlos Alcaraz should wait till Friday.

Djokovic, chasing a record-equalling eighth males’s title, will face Switzerland’s Wawrinka, who beat Argentine twenty ninth seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Wawrinka, 38, has received three Grand Slams however he has suffered a sequence of harm issues in recent times and has slipped to 88th within the rankings.

The Swiss participant has overwhelmed Djokovic twice in Grand Slam finals — on the French Open in 2015 and on the US Open the next 12 months.

“I’ll take pleasure in it if I don’t get killed,” mentioned Wawrinka. “Novak is an incredible champion. I’m pleased to get the possibility to play him on grass earlier than I end my profession.”

Final 12 months’s shock champion Rybakina misplaced the primary set of her title defence in opposition to American Shelby Rogers earlier this week however dropped simply three video games within the subsequent two units.

The Kazakh participant, who faces 74th-ranked veteran Alize Cornet within the final 64, admits enjoying at Wimbledon because the defending champion is a special problem.

‘New chapter’

“Immediately you go to this large courtroom,” she mentioned. “I believe for me it’s now a brand new chapter and that is one thing I have to get used to and attempt to preserve my degree.”

Elsewhere on Thursday, there have been early wins for Ukrainian wildcard Elina Svitolina, who beat Belgian twenty eighth seed Elise Mertens 6-1, 1-6, 6-1, and two-time Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka.

American qualifier Sofia Kenin adopted up her shock win in opposition to compatriot Coco Gauff by defeating China’s Wang Xinyu in straight units.

Polish seventeenth seed Hubert Hurkacz, who famously beat Roger Federer within the quarter-finals in 2021, noticed off British wildcard Jan Choinski 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3).