Taylor Fritz reaches Wimbledon third round... 109 games later!

Wimbledon

109 games later, Fritz reaches Wimbledon third round

American has won back-to-back five-setters

Dan Istitene/Getty Images Taylor Fritz defeats Gabriel Diallo in five sets on Wednesday. By ATP Staff

Taylor Fritz has endured a gruelling few days at Wimbledon, where the American will enjoy a hard-earned rest day after booking his place in the third round.

The fifth seed overcame inspired Canadian Gabriel Diallo 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(0), 4-6, 6-3 in a three-hour, six-minute battle on Wednesday, his third consecutive day competing at the grass-court major. Fritz, who last week won his fourth Eastbourne trophy, has played back-to-back five-setters consisting of 109 total games. It is the third-most amount of games a male player at Wimbledon has played through two rounds since 2022.

“That’s an incredibly hard match. In the four sets I’ve lost, I really don’t think there’s much I did wrong at all,” Fritz said. “And I kind of felt like that’s the way the match was going. I was going to have to play near-perfect when I got my opportunities. Really happy to get through.”

Fritz has fearlessly stared down hefty servers in his first two matches, using his forehand chip return to neutralise points early. In the first round, Fritz escaped 6’8” Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, who hammered the fastest serve in tournament history against the 27-year-old.

That opening-round clash was suspended Monday evening due to the 11 p.m. curfew, forcing Fritz and Mpetshi Perricard to return to court at two sets apiece on Tuesday. Two-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist Fritz eventually prevailed 6-7(6), 6-7(8), 6-4, 7-6(6), 6-4.

“Tomorrow’s going to be a very light hit,” Fritz said. “I think I’ve played plenty of tennis, coming from four matches in a row in Eastbourne, one day off into a match over two days here and into this. I’m due a nice, relaxing day.”

Against Diallo, Fritz again put in a courageous effort, even drawing blood while diving for a forehand in the fourth set. Fritz scraped his elbow at that moment and called a medical timeout to have the wound cleaned by the physio. Fritz continued his charge towards the finish line, eventually securing the win and improving to 1-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Diallo.

Across Fritz's first two matches, he has faced 63 aces, 37 from Mpetshi Perricard and 26 from Diallo. Fritz has crushed 56 of his own.

The No. 5 player in the PIF ATP Rankings will next meet 26th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina or Botic van de Zandschulp.

The Spaniard led van de Zandschulp 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, 5-5 when the match was suspended due to darkness. Davidovich Fokina let slip a match point on return at 5-3 in the fourth set and failed to serve out the match the following game, leaving him with a nervous night of sleep.

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