Preview: Bring The Popcorn For Kyrgios, Felix Clash
Bring the popcorn, and No. 1 Court will bring the fireworks.
Big hitting Aussie Nick Kyrgios will take on 16th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in a mouth-watering third-round battle, before second seed Daniil Medvedev hits the court against former finalist Marin Cilic in back-to-back matches on Saturday at Wimbledon. Eight-time champion Roger Federer will also be in action on Day 6 as he takes on 29th seed Cameron Norrie on Centre Court.
Kyrgios is contesting his first tour-level event since the Australian Open in February, but you would not be able to tell by the way he’s been playing this week at Wimbledon. The big-hitting Aussie has played his way into form with three victories – two in singles and one in mixed doubles with former WTA No. 1 Venus Williams – but perhaps most importantly, he seems to be having the time of his life on court in the process.
“I’ve got every reason and every right to be happy,” Kyrgios said after his mixed doubles win. “I’ve worked hard the past couple of weeks, and it wasn’t easy for me to get back on the court the past couple months. I don’t have a coach, I don’t really have a trainer. I had to push myself to go out there. I had to find motivation myself. I’m just enjoying it.”
[TENNIS POINT]He will face a big test in the third round as he takes on 16th seed Auger-Aliassime, who is seeking a place in the fourth round at SW19 for the first time. The 20-year-old Canadian has been red-hot through the grass-court swing, with a final in Stuttgart (l. to Cilic) and semi-final in Halle under his belt.
The pair’s only previous ATP Head2Head meeting took place on the lawns of The Queen’s Club in 2019, and it went down to the wire with Auger-Aliassime prevailing 7-5 in the third set after two tie-breaks. With both players hitting their stride at the same time this week, fans will hope for more of the same on No. 1 Court.
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After Auger-Aliassime and Kyrgios, second seed Medvedev will hit the court as he bids to reach the second week at Wimbledon for the first time. He has stated his case emphatically after only dropping one set against Jan-Lennard Struff and sweeping past Carlos Alcaraz having won 95 per cent of points behind his first serve.
Medvedev will hope to keep those figures going as he faces big-serving Cilic, who lifted his 19th tour-level trophy in Stuttgart (d. Auger-Aliassime). The Russian will be high on confidence too, after claiming his first grass-court title in Mallorca last week.
“Marin is a great champion, definitely. It’s not an easy draw. He was in the final here in Wimbledon and he almost beat Roger, [it] was close. Tough draw, tough opponent. Huge respect to him,” Medvedev said.
Medvedev’s countrymen Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev have already booked their spots in the fourth round. If he joins them, it will mark the second time this year that three Russian men have reached the fourth round at a major. Before Medvedev, Rublev and Aslan Karatsev’s run at the Australian Open, it had only ever happened once in the Open Era: at the 2007 Australian Open (Igor Andreev, Nikolay Davydenko and Mikhail Youzhny).
Before the tournament began, sixth seed Federer told press that his biggest goal was to reach at least the second week at Wimbledon. Now, only Great Britain’s Norrie stands between him and the fourth round. Well, Norrie and most of the fans on Centre Court, that is.
“I never really walk out and expect everybody to be for me, to be honest. I’m a little bit the same. Sometimes I like the underdog,” Federer said with his usual equanimity. “You want to see a close match, too. When you see another guy hit great shots, I hope they applaud the guy. You want the atmosphere to be there.
“Not everybody in particular has to be for me. At the end of the day, you have to focus on your game. If the crowd gets into it, it’s good, even if it’s maybe for him. Let’s see what happens.”
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Federer has looked better and better with every set played at the All England Club this fortnight. He survived an early scare in the first round, and he found another gear to cruise past Richard Gasquet in straight sets in the second. Norrie, who arrived at the All England Club at a career-high No. 34 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, will be battle-tested and hungry after reaching three ATP Tour finals this year at Estoril, Lyon and Queen’s Club.
Elsewhere at the All England Club, fourth seed Alexander Zverev will take on 31st seed Taylor Fritz on No. 2 Court. The American had surgery less than a month ago after a knee injury at Roland Garros. But he has shown he is back to full match fitness after battling wins over Brandon Nakashima and Steve Johnson, the latter of which went to five sets.
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