WIMBLEDON
Djokovic rolls past Tsitsipas; Perfect start for De Minaur
LONDON, July 2: A well-dressed Taylor Fritz impressed again at Wimbledon on Thursday, beating compatriot Patrick Kypson 6-2, 6-2, 7-5 to reach the third round as Princess Kate visited the All England Club.
Fritz’s white blazer and NBA-style warmup pants for his walk-on at No. 2 Court drew attention but his play wasn’t bad either — he fired 19 aces and avoided getting pushed into a fourth set.
The sixth-seeded American, a semifinalist last year, emphatically pumped his right fist when he broke Kypson to convert his fourth match point.
“I’m really happy that I was able to just get the break there, avoid going to a tiebreaker, avoid going to a fourth, just get it done in three,” Fritz said in an on-court interview.
Fritz also won his opener in straight sets and had worn a similar outfit with tear-away warmup pants.
DJOKOVIC THROUGH
After a four-set thriller in his opening match, Novak Djokovic upped his game to defeat Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets to enter the third round of Wimbledon on Thursday (IST).
Djokovic needed just 98 minutes to swat aside Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 and secure his place in the third round of the grass-court major for the 20th time.
When the first set whistled by him in 27 neat and tidy minutes, Tsitsipas’s chances of doing that looked awfully slim. The Greek pushed a bit harder in the second set, serving with greater power and accuracy.
He kept Djokovic at arm’s length for eight games until the Serb tightened the thumb screws.
After one hour, Tsitsipas faced another break point. He tried and tried but he could not keep the ball out of Djokovic’s reach. He gave it his all and still Djokovic was there in front of him. And then, at the end of a 15-stroke rally, it was the younger man (younger by 12 years) who crumbled. Four points and a matter of seconds later and the No.7 seed was two sets to the good.
Come the third set, the former world No.1 was in no mood to hang around. He secured a break for a 3-2 lead and sped towards the finish line with a near-perfect report card: 33 winners, seven unforced errors.
DE MINAUR EASES THROUGH
The Australian fifth seed has reached seven quarter-finals at the majors but never gone any further, with only Russia’s Andrey Rublev failing more often at that stage, with 10.
On Thursday though, he dispatched tricky Frenchman Adrian Mannarino with ease to reach the Wimbledon third round and the draw offers him hope of making his deepest run yet.
De Minaur, one of the best movers in the sport and whose all-court game is a good fit for grass, is yet to drop a set in his opening two rounds.
Left-hander Mannarino’s unusual game style means his flat strokes propel the ball low over the net, skidding off the lush turf. De Minaur dealt with it superbly though to take his record over Mannarino to 6-1. De Minaur, will face either Zachary Svajda or Kamil Majchrzak in his next outing. (Agencies)
