Spectators at Friday’s blockbuster match between Andy Murray and Stefanos Tsitsipas will have noticed the Greek world No 5’s talent for tie-breaks. In that match, he won two. In his opening round, against the former US Open winner Dominic Thiem, he won three, including the 10-point super tie-break that decide final sets at grand slams. He has played 223 tie-breaks in his career and won 60% of them. As the tournament entered its first weekend, his prowess under pressure showed again.
Relegated to No 2 Court in view of the fact his opponent was Serbia’s fourth best player, Laslo Djere, rather than the home favourite Murray, Tsitsipas described his straight-sets win – 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-4 – as “the first match this week I’ve made it easy for me”.
The opening set was level-pegging until the end, Djere peppering drop shots and serving almost flawlessly – at one point with 90% first-serves – until he let himself down at 4-5, as he served to stay in the set. After two double faults from the Serb – his first two of the match – Tsitsipas nicked it.
The second set was not so simple, however, as Djere, who was once ranked in the top 30, fought to break immediately courtesy of a Tsitsipas forehand shank – all too frequent an occurrence for a player who seriously needs to acquire a bigger racket head – that allowed him to get his nose in front.
After Tsitsipas broke back in the sixth game, the two again remained level until a crucial second set tie-break. And, at 3-1 and a mini-break up, it seemed Djere might force the issue. Instead, a sweetly struck down-the-line forehand was out by a millimetre and momentum swung back to the Greek, who triumphed 7-5.
It was pretty smooth sailing from there, as a dejected-looking Djere’s head seemed to drop, and Tsitsipas broke in the fourth game and held on to his lead, serving out to love, taking the first of his three match points with an approach volley. Tsitsipas summed up his relief during his on-court interview, especially his avoidance of another epic battle.
“Second set was very important. If you don’t fight back and come up with solutions, you find yourself one set all, and things change psychologically speaking. I am proud of myself, because I didn’t give up.”
Now, he has a day off. Over on No 1 Court, Daniil Medvedev, one of a number of Russians who are excelling in both the men’s and women’s competitions, took on the Hungarian underdog Marton Fucsovics, who had upset America’s Maxime Cressy in the round before. Medvedev, who has a tempestuous relationship with grass as he does with clay – although he surprised everyone by winning the Rome Masters played on the dirt last month – started wobbly, spraying forehands well long in a humid, jungle-like atmosphere as the rain battered down on the roof. He prowled the baseline, muttering to himself.
His struggles told when Fucsovics, consistently blasting clean forehands, broke in game four and held on to his lead, not facing a break point, and serving out to love to take the first set 6-4 to the crowd’s delight.
Medvedev – who has the highest win ratio on the ATP Tour this year, claiming five titles – does not give in easily. He came into this match with a 3-1 head-to-head lead over Fucsovics. But he was immediately in trouble again, taken to deuce in his first service game of set two. As is so often the case, an ace saved him.
In his next service game he faced a break point but Fucsovics was not able to take it and that proved costly when Medvedev finally broke to lead 3-1, seeing the set out at 6-3 despite continued valiant efforts from Fucsovics and close games.
From then on, the world No 86’s level dipped and he lost his serve in the opening game of set three with a wild forehand into the tramlines. Medvedev consolidated comfortably. But his opponent kept his spirits up, an attempted dive-volley earning the crowd’s appreciation despite it being in vain. Medvedev saw the rest of the match out easily, with Fucsovics at one point taking a medical time-out and limping slightly.
Fucsovics could save two match points but not a third and the Russian booked his ticket into the last 16, where he will meet the Czech up-and-comer Jiri Lehecka, who bested Tommy Paul in a five-set thriller.
Elsewhere, Holger Rune – a young-gun and member of the potential new big three, along with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, both still in contention – won his own epic against Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
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When the two last met, at Fokina’s home Masters in Madrid, sparks flew with Rune antagonising the crowd. This time, the Dane was calmer, at one time amusing those in the front row of No 3 Court when he nonchalantly sat on a corner chair during a short rain break, rather than taking cover under his umbrella.
Despite at one point being two sets to one down, Rune turned things around in dramatic fashion. He saved two match points (something he has become very good at) and overturned a 5-8 deficit in the final super tie-break to steal the win 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8) as the Spaniard provided some assistance.
At 8-8 in the deciding breaker an inspired Fokina delved deep into his bag of tricks to find an underarm serve. However, rather than befuddle Rune, the Dane saw it come and whistled the sitting duck straight past him. One serve later and it was over, four hours of grinding for Fokina up in smoke.
As play was suspended and the sun set on a day that had seen multiple top seeds in action, two of them remained in limbo. Grigor Dimitrov is two sets up (6-2, 6-3) on Frances Tiafoe, and on serve in the third, to resume on Sunday.
