LONDON: British wildcard Liam Broady claimed the biggest win of his career and the biggest shock of Wimbledon 2023 when he stunned Norwegian fourth seed Casper Ruud 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-3 6-0 in front of a delirious Centre Court crowd on Thursday. Broady belied his 142nd ranking against a player who has reached three of the last five Grand Slam finals but had struggled at Wimbledon in his three previous appearances. After four closely-fought, if erratic sets, Ruud, who said he had spent the three weeks since reaching the French Open final relaxing well away from tennis, looked like he had mentally packed his bags again in the fifth as Broady ripped through it, barely dropping a point, to seal a memorable win. Apart from one of them being one of the world’s top players and the other every inch a Tour journeyman, there was very little between the two for much of the match – not least in their extraordinarily similar appearance.
Both 6ft 4ins (183cm) and of similar build, they sported identical shirts and shorts and both had tie-up white headbands, with only a small logo on the front of Ruud’s giving the eagle-eyed an identity clue. It meant concentration was needed to watch them as a glance away from the court left fans having to quickly recalibrate who to cheer — and there was plenty of opportunity on both sides. Broady was into his stride quickly as the Norwegian struggled to adapt to the grass surface he is very unfamiliar with and though the Briton was first to drop serve, he hit back to take the first set. It was a similar start to the second set as Ruud broke for 3-1, but this time maintained his advantage.
When he went two sets to one up, it seemed the natural order would be resumed, but Broady thought otherwise. He cut down his errors and produced a run of strong service games to take charge of the fourth, epitomised by serving out to love – finished off by his first ace of the match — to force a decider.
Wawrinka rolls back years to set up Djokovic clash: Stan Wawrinka rolled back the years as the 38-year-old Swiss proved the old adage that class is permanent and form temporary by knocking out seeded Argentine Tomas Etcheverry on Thursday to reach the third round at Wimbledon. His career may be in its twilight but Wawrinka proved a notch above a man 15 years his junior to claim a 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-2 victory on a sunny Court Three. It was the first time Wawrinka has reached third round of a Grand Slam for three years and his reward is a box-office duel with defending champion Novak Djokovic, the man he famously made cry after beating him in the 2015 French Open final.
Fifth seed Garcia squeezes through: It took a 10-point shootout, but French fifth seed Caroline Garcia finally overcame Leylah Fernandez in three sets to reach the Wimbledon third round in early evening sunshine on Thursday. Having dropped the opening set 6-3, in which Fernandez slammed 10 clean winners, the Frenchwoman – her right racket-arm and shoulder strapped heavily – level with a 6-4 second set before doing just enough to edge the championship tiebreak in a decider during which neither player was able to break serve. Garcia, who skipped across the court pumping her fist and beaming a huge smile in victory, will next face Czech Marie Bouzkova who sent Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit into retirement from professional tennis with a 6-1 6-2 victory.