LONDON, July 7: Daniil Medvedev advanced to the third round at Wimbledon with a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(5) win over Frenchman Adrian Mannarino on Friday after their match was suspended due to bad light the previous day.
Third seed Medvedev was on the brink of victory on Thursday evening before Mannarino staged a late fightback to level the third set at 4-4 and take the match into a second day.
The world number 35 continued to keep pace with the Russian, who has never advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Club.
Medvedev clinched the tiebreak when the left-handed Mannarino sent a forehand long and the Russian will next play American Marcos Giron or Hungarian Marton Fucsovics.
“I remember a couple of years ago I had this against (Hubert) Hurkacz and I lost and I kind of prepared in a way for a new match. I did an ice bath, I finished the match as if it was a normal match and the next day I had to play again,” Medvedev said in an on-court interview.
Medvedev, who has not dropped a set at the tournament, said he may have a new lucky ritual to go through if he has to play a match over two days again.
“And this didn’t work out for me, so I changed it. I didn’t do anything as if the match was finished, I didn’t wash my hair, I was like ‘I’ll wash it after the match’ and it worked so I’m going to continue like this if next time I have a two-day match.
“I did take a shower,” he added.
Kvitova advances
Petra Kvitova reached the third round at Wimbledon for the second year in a row, nine years after winning the second of her two titles at the All England Club.
The 33-year-old Czech, who was injured in a knife attack at her home in 2016, beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2, 6-2 Friday on Day 5 of the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.
The left-handed Kvitova first won the Wimbledon title in 2011 and then added another in 2014.
Kenin on comeback trail
Sofia Kenin reached the third round at Wimbledon for the first time on Thursday. Or as the 2020 Australian Open champion put it: “Just trying to prove some people wrong.”
Kenin beat Wang Xinyu of China 6-4, 6-3 to back up her victory over seventh-seeded Coco Gauff that ended a streak of three straight first-round exits at Grand Slam tournaments.
The 24-year-old American came into Wimbledon ranked 128th and had to go through qualifying to reach the main draw at at the All England Club .
Kontaveit, retires at 27
The last player Serena Williams beat before retiring last year has now called it quits on her own career after a second-round loss at Wimbledon on Thursday.
Anett Kontaveit, a 27-year-old Estonian who has been struggling with a chronic back issue, lost to 32nd-seeded Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-2 at the All England Club.
“Just a lot of emotions. There’s sadness, there’s happiness,” Kontaveit said.
“There’s a bit of everything.”
Tiafoe sends footwear message to Travis Scott
Frances Tiafoe is still waiting on his sneakers from Travis Scott.
The American tennis player, who advanced to the third round at Wimbledon on Thursday, playfully nudged the rapper to send him a pair of his new Nike sneakers.
“His manager keeps saying, ‘Yeah, it’s coming, yeah, it’s coming,” the 25-year-old Tiafoe said, noting that Scott is performing on Saturday in London.
“Yeah, no, this is all good fun. It’s just funny. Yeah, I’m excited. That’s definitely my guy. It’s cool that he’s out here,” the American , who is ranked 10th in the world added. (AP)
