(June 30, 2021) Andy Murray wowed the loud British crowd and managed an almost four-hour comeback win over German Qualifier Oscar Otte 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the third round of Wimbledon on Wednesday evening. The two-time Wimbledon winner, currently ranked outside of the Top 100 needed a wildcard to get into the tournament. The 34-year-old Scot is coming back from multiple hip surgeries over the past few years.
“The atmosphere was good the whole match, but especially the last sort of hour and a half was brilliant. I still enjoy that,” Murray said.
“It’s been tough,” Murray said about his comeback. “That’s one of the reasons why I’m still playing, is because of moments like [this]. Like, why would you want to give that up?”
Wimbledon had to play catch-up with first-round matches as the rain caused many postponements over the first two days. Almost 80 matches were completed on Wednesday.
In a rematch of the 2018 Wimbledon final, No. 1 Novak Djokovic had an easy 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 win over South Africa’s Kevin Anderson on Center Court.
This was his 16th straight match win at Wimbledon, as he is the two-time defending champion. The Serb, who holds 19 major titles, evaluated his win as an “almost flawless performance.” Djokovic is halfway to the calendar Grand Slam, having captured both the Australian and French Opens.
Djokovic did admit that he was nervous before the match: “Obviously I’m in a high level of confidence after winning [the French Open]. But I was nervous coming into this match because I was playing a very good player, experienced player, whom I faced in the final three years ago.”
Two top seeds fell in the women’s draw. Last year’s Australian Open winner and 4th seed Sofia Kenin lost to United States countrywoman Madison Brengle in straight sets, in the second-round, and 2019 US Open winner Bianca Andreescu, seeded fifth fell to veteran Alize Cornet in delayed first-round play.
Five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams bowed out to Ons Jabeur, the 21st seed in her 23rd time playing the tournament “I think she played well. Just played super good, so I can’t take any credit away from her,” Williams said.
Other women’s seeds falling on Wednesday were [9] Belinda Benicic, [22] Jessica Pegula, [24] Anett Kontaveit and [32] Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Seeded women who advanced to the second round:[3] Elina Svitolina, [12] Victoria Azarenka, [16] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and [23] Madison Keys.
Seeded women who advanced to the third round: [2] Aryna Sabalenka, [7] Iga Swiatek, [8] Karoilina Pliskova, [11] Garbine Muguruza, [13] Elise Mertens, [18] Elena Rybakina and [23] Madison Keys.
Other seeded men advancing were [5] Andrey Rublev, [7] Mateo Berrettini, [9] Diego Swartzman, [13] Gael Monfils, Felix Auger-Aliassime, [18] Grigor Dimitrov, [22] Dan Evans, [25] Karen Khachanov, [26] Fabio Fognini, [29] Cameron Norrie, [31] Taylor Fritz, [32} Marin Cilic, along with [10] Denis Shapovalov who reached the third round when his opponent Pablo Andujar gave him a walkover.
Upsets on the day for the men included: [11] Pablo Carreno Busta, [20] Aslan Karatsev, [21] Ugo Humbert and [12] Casper Ruud.
