Wimbledon 2021 preview: Andy Murray plays as Novak Djokovic & Simona Halep defend titles
Two-time champion Andy Murray makes a welcome comeback in the Wimbledon singles when one of the sporting highlights of the British summer returns.
Two-time champion Andy Murray makes a welcome comeback in the Wimbledon singles when one of the sporting highlights of the British summer returns.
Zhang Zhizhen made history on Thursday at Wimbledon.
The 24-year-old beat Buenos Aires finalist Francisco Cerundolo 6-0, 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(6) to reach his first major main draw and become the first Chinese man to make the main draw at The Championships in the Open Era.
This was the World No. 178’s fourth attempt to qualify for a Grand Slam. In his first three attempts, he did not advance past the second round of qualifying.
Zhang will be the fourth Chinese man to compete in a major singles main draw in the Open Era according to Wimbledon.com. Wu Di did it three times at the Australian Open (2013, 2014 and 2016), Zhang Ze played in Melbourne twice (2014 and 2015) and Li Zhe competed in the 2019 Australian Open.
Zhang did not lose a set in his first two qualifying matches, and he got off to a quick start against Cerundolo, losing just three games in the first two sets. The two-time ATP Challenger Tour titlist had to dig deep in the fourth-set tie-break to triumph after two hours and 20 minutes.
Did You Know?
The 24-year-old is the No. 1 Chinese player in the FedEx ATP Rankings at World No. 178. Last year, Zhang reached a career-high World No. 136.
Novak Djokovic’s grass-court preparations are cut short after an injury to his partner forces them to withdraw from the Mallorca doubles final.
Mackenzie McDonald made the fourth round on his Wimbledon debut in 2018. Now, the American will get another main draw crack at SW19.
The second seed in qualifying rallied from two sets down on Thursday to beat another former UCLA Bruin, Maxime Cressy, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. The 26-year-old struck 54 winners to just 18 unforced errors to advance after three hours and 12 minutes.
McDonald had to go through qualifying, but he has been a force on the ATP Tour this season. McDonald is second among Americans in the FedEx ATP Race To Turin, only trailing Sebastian Korda.
Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor also came from two sets down to claw past Briton Arthur Fery 4-6, 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5), 6-2. This will be Griekspoor’s second Grand Slam main draw and his debut at Wimbledon.
#NextGenATP American Brandon Nakashima will also make his maiden main draw appearance at SW19 after ousting former World No. 10 Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 6-2, 6-1. The 19-year-old is the youngest player to come through qualifying.
Nakashima’s countryman, Denis Kudla, ousted Italian Federico Gaio 6-2, 7-5, 6-4. This will be the American’s seventh Wimbledon main draw. In 2015, he advanced to the fourth round.
China’s Zhang Zhizhen took out Buenos Aires finalist Francisco Cerundolo 6-0, 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(6) to reach his first major main draw, and Australian Marc Polmans battled past 2018 Newport finalist Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(2), 3-6, 11-9.
Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech, who has earned wins this season against Jannik Sinner and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, moved past Serbian Nikola Milojevic 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-2. His countrymen, Gregoire Barrere, Benjamin Bonzi and Antoine Hoang, also earned their spots in the field of 128.
The first five-setter on this year’s grass ?
And what a way to seal a #Wimbledon main draw spot by Bernabe Zapata Miralles ? pic.twitter.com/aUBGiBGNYT
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 24, 2021
The other players who qualified on Thursday were Chilean Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera, German Daniel Masur, Australian Christopher O’Connell, German Oscar Otte, Argentine Marco Trungelliti and Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles.
Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi knocks out top seed Aryna Sabalenka to reach the semi-finals of the Eastbourne International.
Watch the best shots as Britain’s Anton Matusevich loses 6-2 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 to Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles in a thrilling Wimbledon qualifier.
Dominic Thiem on Thursday announced his withdrawal from Wimbledon due to a right wrist injury he suffered during his match Tuesday at the Mallorca Championships.
“I’m going to do everything the doctors say in order to recover as quickly as possible,” Thiem said. “They’ve informed me that I might be out for several weeks, but I will do my best to be back on court soon.”
Tests in Barcelona found that the Austrian star has a “detachment of the posterior sheath of the ulnar side of the right wrist”. He will wear a splint for five weeks, and Dr. Angel Ruiz Cotorro and his team will monitor Thiem’s progress.
The 27-year-old is 9-9 on the season and the No. 5 player in the FedEx ATP Rankings.
British teenager Arthur Fery lets slip a two-set lead to miss out on qualifying for Wimbledon.
US Open champion Dominic Thiem withdraws from Wimbledon with a wrist injury that will sideline him for several weeks.
Top seed Daniil Medvedev has reached the third grass-court semi-final of his career after taking down Casper Ruud 7-5, 6-1 at the Mallorca Championships on Thursday.
The Russian bounced back emphatically after his opening-round defeat at the NOVENTI OPEN in Halle (l. to Struff) to move into the last four without dropping a set. Medvedev has previously reached this stage at The Queen’s Club in 2019 and Eastbourne in 2017.
“I feel like it was a funny match. Maybe [it was] not the highest level, but I’m really happy to win and be in the semi-finals here. I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” Medvedev said in an on-court interview.
Medvedev served up a great performance against Ruud with eight aces and 87 per cent (26/30) of points won behind his first serves. He didn’t face a break point in the first set, where he only lost one point behind his first serve (17/18).
The top seed had Ruud under pressure, and he finally broke through late in the opening set. Medvedev broke the Norwegian’s serve five times in a row to take the first set and romp through the second, winning nine of the last 10 games. He sealed the match with a drop shot and a put-away volley to move into the semi-finals after one hour and 17 minutes.
[WATCH LIVE 2]“I don’t think grass is his best surface, but in the first set he was playing top level and I couldn’t get any break points,” Medvedev said. “But as soon as he started serving a bit worse and making some errors, I tried to use it as fast as I could. It was important to win the first set and not in a tie-break, this gives me a boost of confidence.”
Medvedev will next face home favourite Pablo Carreno Busta, the fourth seed, for a place in his first grass-court final. Medvedev has won 10 ATP Tour titles, all of them coming on hard courts.
Carreno Busta saved all three break points he faced as he edged past Jordan Thompson 6-4, 6-4. He is through to his first semi-final on the surface since Antalya in 2019 (l. to Sonego). The Spaniard trails Medvedev 1-2 in their ATP Head2Head.
Sam Querrey and Adrian Mannarino will meet in the second Mallorca semi-final after scoring big wins over Spanish opponents on Thursday.
The 31-year-old American took down third seed Roberto Bautista Agut, firing a head-turning 25 aces on the way to a 6-3, 7-6(4) victory. Querrey saved all three break points faced, including a set point late in the second at 5-6 to send them into a tie-break and reach his second semi-final of the grass-court season (also Stuttgart). Mannarino halted Feliciano Lopez’s milestone Mallorca run with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory over the Spaniard. The Frenchman weathered 15 aces from Lopez, breaking serve twice en route to victory.
Querrey and Mannarino are tied at 3-3 in their ATP Head2Head, with Mannarino winning the first three matches of their rivalry and Querrey the three most recent; all their previous meetings have come on hard courts.