Daniil Medvedev stared down a fierce early challenge from Hungarian powerhouse Marton Fucsovics Saturday to advance to the Wimbledon fourth round and remove one of the few blemishes on his otherwise outstanding 2023 season.

The third seed, who has won five titles and leads the tour with 44 match wins, advanced to the second week of a major for the first time this year with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory in three hours and four minutes.

Under a closed roof on No. 1 Court, both players delighted enthusiastic fans with a range of power hitting, inventive shot making, drop shots, athletic court coverage and regular forays to the net in one of the most entertaining matches of the tournament to date.

“He’s a very tough player to play against and after the first set I was more decisive in some points and saved a couple of break points on my serve. I’m really happy to be through,” Medvedev said.

“I really want to do well here. I wasn’t playing here last year and it’s my worst Grand Slam in terms of results. I have a big motivation to change that. The further you go, the tougher the opponents. I hope that I can show my best tennis and enjoy.”

Fucsovics took the fight to Medvedev early, erasing two break points in his opening service game before aggressive returning underpinned his break of Medvedev to go ahead 2-1, a lead he did not relinquish en route to claiming the first set.

Fucsovics exploited Medvedev’s deep-court return and rally positions with consistent net approaches and well-timed serve/volley plays. He was aggressive on return but his deeper rally position made it difficult for the former World No. 1 to hit winners and drew Medvedev into a high number of unforced errors (10 in the first set alone).

But the physical 31-year-old World No. 67, whose motto is ‘every day, gym day,’ paid the price for a surprise drop in intensity after the first set. Although Medvedev was still making uncharacteristic unforced errors, the World No. 3 began to take command of the baseline exchanges and had more success defending his second serve. (In the first set he won just three of 10 second-serve points.)

After 21 unforced errors in the first two sets, Medvedev went into lockdown mode in the third, playing some of his best tennis of the match with 10 winners to just six unforced errors, missing just six first serves in the set.

Medvedev next plays the winner of 16th seed Tommy Paul and 21-year-old Czech Jiri Lehecka.

Play has been suspended at Wimbledon on Saturday due to rain. Matches started at 11:00 a.m. on the outside courts, before the action was halted at 12:36 p.m. due to showers in south west London.

Czech Jiri Lehecka led American Tommy Paul 6-2, 7-6(2), 1-1 in their third-round clash on Court 12 before play was suspended, with Stefanos Tsitsipas, Holger Rune and Frances Tiafoe among the players scheduled to be in action on the outside courts later on Saturday.

Play will start on time on Centre Court and Court 1 due to the retractable roofs. Carlos Alcaraz will meet Nicolas Jarry at 1:30 p.m. on Centre Court, while Daniil Medvedev faces Marton Fucsovics on Court 1 at 1:00 p.m.

Former World No. 38 Donald Young remembers first meeting Christopher Eubanks, who from the age of 12 would compete in matchplay sessions hosted by Young’s father at the South Fulton Tennis Centre in Atlanta. Anybody was allowed to play, and Eubanks’ father would always bring him to participate.

“Then his mom wanted him to get some higher-level playing and coaching and whatnot. So he started coming more often, and then my dad gave him a job at the summer camp to kind of coach the kids and help them out,” Young told ATPTour.com. “After he was finished, me and my best friend would hit with him and we would practise with him. And then as he got to be like 15, 16, I was like, ‘Hey man, you want to maybe take it to the next level?’”

Under the tutelage of his parents, Young had become the No. 1 junior in the world and later a Top 50 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, competing on the biggest stages (he is still active). But the American lefty never had a mentor from a young age who was able to provide him advice as he climbed towards the top of the sport.

Young wanted to be that mentor for someone, and Eubanks proved the perfect fit. He quickly began practising with Eubanks, as did his friends, including former touring pro Andrew Carter and former Illinois State University player Skip Span.

“We have videotape of [Chris] at 13, 14, [us] just giving him the business in games to 11 and 12 and talking smack,” Young said, cracking a laugh. “It was a lot of fun.”

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^{Photo: Donald Young}
What made Young especially optimistic was that Eubanks’ father had built “quality technique” in his game. Young believed that consistently hitting with a top-level professional would help Eubanks improve a lot faster so that when he would play other juniors and get to college, opponents’ shots would feel slower.

When Young asked Eubanks if he would join him on Tour, the latter quickly said ‘Sure’, and the rest was history. Eubanks travelled with Young beginning in 2012 and continued accompanying him to tournaments for years, with the last of those events coming in Canada in 2017. As valuable a learning experience it was for Eubanks, there are plenty of funny memories for them to look back on, too.

“We were in Morocco and he had never really traveled outside of the country like that. And I’m telling him what to and not to eat. And I’m like, ‘Don’t eat that, that’s not what you eat over here, stick to the chicken, stick to maybe lasagna,’” Young recalled. “He’s like, ‘No, no, I want this, I want that.’ [He] ends up sick, throwing up, can barely get on the flight…

“One [time] he overslept and missed practice in Paris and we gave him a hard time for that. And we played this game where if you were the last person to have your credential on once you leave the site, you have to walk all the stairs up to your room and a couple of times he lost that. So it’s just little things like that.”

Eubanks has become known as one of the most well-liked players on Tour for his bubbly personality, which has also earned him opportunities to broadcast for Tennis Channel during his time off. That has long been Eubanks’ personality, according to Young.

“He’s always [been] one of those guys, super helpful. ‘Donald, what do you need, anything? I’ll go get it. I’ll go get the ball. I’ll get the racquet. What do you need? I got it. What do you need?’” Young said. “He’s just always been that guy. We call him the mayor, the governor, networking and talking to people and he’s way more outgoing than I ever would be. So, to his credit, he does very well with that.”

Young explained that he saw Eubanks’ potential on the court much more than his mentee did.

“He had no belief. He was about to accept a 30 per cent ride to [the University of] Alabama,” Young said. “I was like, ‘Man, you’re better than that. I think you could do better.’”

Young told Georgia Tech head coach Kenny Thorne about Eubanks, who had played No. 3 on his high school team.

“It was very beneficial for Chris to have trained with Donald early on. Early on Chris got used to playing against pro pace and against lefties. He actually didn’t play as many junior tournaments as many of the juniors usually do because he trained with Donald,” Thorne said. “My assistant Derek Schwandt and I [were able to] watch him at tournaments. I just remember him hitting huge forehands and missing a lot.

“The good points he won, he would win at a very high level. That was very interesting for me. I don’t think he knew how good he was.”

Christopher Eubanks and Donald Young” />
^{Eubanks and Young at the 2015 Atlanta Open. Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images.}
In 2015, Eubanks earned his first Pepperstone ATP Doubles Rankings points by reaching the semi-finals of the Atlanta Open alongside Young. He enjoyed a standout career at Georgia Tech, where he twice earned All-American status before turning professional in 2017 after his third year at the school.

But it was not until earlier this year that the 6’7″ righty broke into the Top 100 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. In Miami, the American enjoyed a dream run to the quarter-finals, during which he was supported by celebrities including actor Jamie Foxx and former NFL star Chad Johnson. What was most telling was the emotion he showed when he earned the win that guaranteed him a place in the Top 100.

“I think he appreciates it more because in the back of his mind, I don’t think he ever thought it would happen,” Young said. “So it’s kind of like, ‘Wow, this is really happening.’ But he can really appreciate it. It’s not like something he expected… Everything means so much more, which is awesome to see, because he’s living in real time. He’s enjoying the moment.”

Eubanks has proven over the past few weeks that he is still on the rise. With his booming serve and forehand, he is becoming one of the most dangerous players on Tour, especially on grass. The 27-year-old won his first tour-level title last week in Mallorca and on Friday, he upset British No. 1 Cameron Norrie to reach the third round on his Wimbledon main draw debut and climb to a career-high No. 40 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

“His level at the moment and his confidence is unbelievable,” Norrie said. “He completely took the racquet out of my hand today. I did what I could, but it wasn’t enough.”

Eubanks blew the lefty off the court. Playing aggressively and sticking to his game plan has been a focus of the American’s. Young has spoken to the 6’7” righty about being that aggressive since before he attended Georgia Tech.

“He watched me play a lot. So when he was younger, he was like ‘Oh man, I want to roll the ball like you,’” Young recalled. “I was like, ‘Absolutely not. You should hit the ball as hard as you can all the time and just give the guy no rhythm.’ And that’s kind of when he really started taking off.”

Eubanks has made clear his appreciation for everyone who has helped him to this point. When he triumphed in Mallorca, he immediately thanked several people who have helped him along the way, including Young.

“I travelled all over the world with him. And for me, that was huge, because it allowed me to practise with a player who was Top 50 at the time, which not many 15 and 16 year olds could do every single day, and that was that was something that I was able to do,” Eubanks told ATPTour.com. “I think it also allowed me to see that me playing professional tennis was a real possibility because I felt like as a kid, if you don’t know any professional tennis players, you don’t have access to any professional tennis players, it’s kind of hard to believe that you can be a professional tennis player and he gave me that access.”

That was one of the main benefits Young saw as well. Eubanks spent time around and practised with Young, but also was able to get to know other players including Michael Russell, the current coach of Taylor Fritz, and Nicholas Monroe. Eubanks received the perfect education for what life would be like on the ATP Tour.

A decade later, the 27-year-old is shining on it.

“It was just nice to take someone from 13, 14, not believing they could do it to showing them they can actually play,” Young said. “That was very cool.”

Novak Djokovic’s blockbuster third-round match against three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka turned into one-way traffic on Centre Court for much of Friday evening.

Despite a late start and a late surge from Wawrinka, the seven-time champion Djokovic avoided the possibility of the match carrying over to Saturday by defeating the Swiss star 6-3, 6-1, 7-6(5) at just past 10:45 p.m.

“I have to say that it’s amazing what Stan is doing. Still his age, after several surgeries. We are two old guys fighting with the young guns, I think it’s important to acknowledge that,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview. “It’s amazing. It’s inspiring. Like Andy [Murray], he was forced to drop [in] the rankings in the last couple of years [and is] trying to build his ranking.

“We’ve had some amazing battles on the biggest courts in the sport. I respect Stan a lot as a player, I really love him as a person. He’s an extremely nice guy. So I wish him all the best for the for the rest of the season.”

After winning his second-round clash Thursday, Wawrinka made clear he did not believe he would upset the second seed. “Hopefully I can make a competitive match, but if you will look at recent results, I don’t really stand a chance,” he said.

The former World No. 3’s words proved prophetic. Wawrinka battled back to hold from 0/40 in his first service game of the match, but the adversity was a sign of things to come. Djokovic was laser-focussed en route to beating his opponent and the 11 p.m. curfew under the lights.

Wawrinka has as much firepower as any player on Tour, which he has used to defeat Djokovic at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and the US Open (only Roger Federer has defeated the Serbian at all four majors). But Djokovic absorbed all of Wawrinka’s aggression without appearing in difficulty, and always seemed to be a step ahead in rallies in the first two sets.

After Djokovic earned his second service break of the second set, Wawrinka quietly flicked his hands in the air in exasperation, wondering what he could do to turn the match around.

The Swiss showed his champion’s spirit in the third set, raising his level to make a match of it to the crowd’s delight. But despite winning four consecutive points in the third-set tie-break to turn a 1/3 deficit to a 5/3 advantage, he was unable to force a fourth set as his first serve deserted him. His first delivery proved problematic throughout the match, as he only landed 42 per cent of them against one of the best returners in history.

Djokovic buckled down when he needed to, advancing after two hours and six minutes less than 15 minutes before curfew. He is now 18-4 in tie-breaks this year and 3-0 in this edition of The Championships.

“He was two points away from extending this match to another day. Coming into the court today, we knew that it was going to be really tight to finish the match today,” Djokovic said. “One of us had to win in straight sets and it looked very, very good for me the first two sets. Then he raised his level, I dropped mine a little bit. And yeah, [the] crowd got involved. It was a good atmosphere. And hopefully you guys enjoyed it.”

The 23-time major champion now leads Wawrinka 21-6 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. This was just their third meeting since the 2016 US Open final, which the Swiss won.

Djokovic will next play 17th seed Hubert Hurkacz, who defeated 14th seed Lorenzo Musetti 7-6(4), 6-4, 6-4 earlier in the day. The Polish star arrived at Wimbledon having not won more than two consecutive matches since February in Marseille.

But Hurkacz has found his form on the London grass, winning all three of his matches in straight sets without dropping serve. Djokovic leads the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series 5-0, but needed four sets against Hurkacz in the third round of The Championships in 2019.