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Liam Broady thrilled a partisan Centre Court crowd Thursday as he became the first British man to defeat a top-four seed at Wimbledon since 2013 with his upset victory over No. 4 Casper Ruud.
After winning the first set, Broady, a wild card who is ranked No. 142 in the word, dropped the next two sets before rallying for a 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory — the biggest of his career.
“When I went to bed last night, I was thinking about what to say if I won the match,” Broady told the crowd during his on-court interview. “I really don’t know what to say now.”
After three days of action at the All England Club were affected by rain, organizers were optimistic of getting in a full day of tennis Thursday. Only eight matches were completed Tuesday, with all of those being played on either Centre Court or No. 1 Court — the only ones covered by roofs.
Because of the all the disruption, there were a handful of first-round matches being played on Day 4. Normally, the first Thursday of the tournament would wrap up the second round.
Broady cut down his errors and produced a run of strong service games to take charge of the fourth set, and his first ace of the match forced the deciding set.
“It’s a pretty terrifying, exhilarating experience, coming out on Centre Court at Wimbledon,” Broady said. “It’s been my dream since I was 5 years old.”
Ruud started to wilt in the final set, needing medical attention for blisters on his foot. Broady broke to love in the opening game of the fifth set and, using his double-fisted backhand to good effect, he came from 40-0 down to break again and served out to love for 4-0.
“In the fifth, he was just dominant,” said Ruud, who reached the final at three of the last five major tournaments but has never gotten past the second round in four appearances at the All England Club.
“Of course, ranking-wise it’s an upset, but I consider him a better grass court player than me,” said Ruud, who hadn’t seen a grass court until he was 16. “His shots are much more effective than mine on grass. He moves probably better. I was slipping a little here and there, losing my balance.
“It’s just difficult. But I’m going to keep trying. I have a goal to try to do well here at some point. It didn’t happen this year but I honestly love coming here. It’s such a special place.”
Americans
Also among the winners on Thursday was Stan Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam champion from Switzerland who beat No. 29-seeded Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to advance to the third round.
Wawrinka, 38, who won his major titles at the other three Grand Slam tournaments, will next face Novak Djokovic — the 23-time Grand Slam champion who is going for his record-tying eighth title at Wimbledon. That match is scheduled to be played Friday on Centre Court.
“There’s zero opportunity to win Wimbledon for me, I think,” said Wawrinka, who reached the quarterfinals at the All England Club in 2014 and 2015. “I’m playing better each match, and as I say, I think it’s an honor to play Novak here. I was missing that on my career to play him in the Grand Slam in Wimbledon. That’s the last I never played him, and it’s going to be a difficult challenge.
“Hopefully I can make a competitive match, but if you will look at recent results, I don’t really stand a chance.”
American Frances Tiafoe rocketed 23 aces past Swiss qualifier Dominic Stricker en route to a 7-6 (11), 6-4, 6-2 victory.
The 10th seed, who is into the third round at the grasscourt Grand Slam for a third straight time, served with consistent precision and won 89% of his first serve points, leaving precious few opportunities for his 20-year-old opponent.
“Ace counts high,” Tiafoe said. “Sometimes my percentage is not high but ace count’s always been pretty good. That’s been something that’s been helping me a lot.”
Tiafoe squandered two break points at 1-0 and a set point at 5-4, as the first set drifted to a tiebreak which he eventually claimed. He was inches away from being broken in the third set but expertly bailed himself out of a sticky situation by firing off another ace before breaking Stricker at 2-2 with a backhand winner, earning the applause of a limited crowd on Court 12.
“Now is when it starts getting interesting. Everybody is good. Everyone is tough,” said Tiafoe, who is looking to become the first American men’s Grand Slam champion since Andy Roddick won the US Open in 2003. “You start playing the best players in the world. This is where it gets fun. I mean, two talented guys going at it. Let’s see what happens.”
American Taylor Fritz, a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon last year, saw his run as the No. 9 seed end in five sets against unseeded Swede Mikael Ymer, who lost the first two and was down a break before rallying for a 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win.
Alexander Zverev, who reached the 2020 US Open final but missed most of last season after injuring his ankle in the French Open semifinals, finally got on court and beat Dutch qualifier Gijs Brouwer 6-4, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) in the first round.
The 19th-seeded German has twice reached the fourth round at Wimbledon, including in 2021. He again reached the French Open semifinals this year.
No. 7 Andrey Rublev overcame an opening-set blip to beat Aslan Karatsev 6-7(4) 6-3 6-4 7-5 in an all-Russian clash to claim his 50th Grand Slam match victory.
Other seeds advancing included No. 14 Lorenzo Musetti, No. 15 Alex De Minaur, No. 16 Tommy Paul, No. 17 Hubert Hurkacz, No. 21 Grigor Dimitrov, No. 23 Alexander Bublik, No. 25 Nicolas Jarry, No. 26 Denis Shapovalov and No. 31 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
No. 18 Francisco Cerundolo fell in straight sets to Jiri Lehecka, while No. 32 Ben Shelton also was eliminated.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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