Wimbledon Men’s Day 3

Novak Djokovic is guaranteed a day of rest on Thursday after setting another record as the third man to win 350 Grand Slam singles matches with his latest victory at Wimbledon.

The second seed and seven-time champion achieved the mark by defeating Jordan Thompson 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5  to reach the third round.

But potential future opponents Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Swiss Stan Wawrinka had their match delayed for a second consecutive day due to weather and scheduling complications and cannot meet until Thursday..

Djokovic joins elite company which includes Roger Federer (369 wins ) and Serena Williams (365).

Djokovic is on the hunt for more history with a 24th Grand Slam singles and has won the last four Wimbledons editions.

“I don’t really know if I wanted to meet him this early in the tournament, but congratulations to him for a great performance today,” Djokovic said of Thompson, finalist on grass last month in the Netherlands.

“He was a bit unlucky in the second set, he had some chances, but he played a great match. He deserves a big round of applause for sure.”

Fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas needed a great escape and a tiebreak fifth set to get past Dominic Thiem 7-6 (1), 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (8).

Thiem, who won the US Open in 2020, has had a long recovery from injuries which first began with a wrist in June, 2021.

His first-round match with the Greek began on Tuesday but was halted after one set.

Thiem was competing here for the first time in four years and had won five of the pair’s nine meetings.

Two-time Grand Slam finalist Tsitsipas moves into a second-round match with Andy Murray.

Grass-phobic third seed Daniil Medvedev found his feet on the somewhat alien surface as he defeated Paris-born British wild card Arthur Fery 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 after the weather cleared up in late afternoon.

Fery, ranked 391, gave away 30 cm in height to the rangy Medvedev, who has never passed the fourth round here.

The challenger was born in the shadow of Roland Garros and was brought up in Wimbledon.

Medvedev put aside his grass phobia as he produced victory on the secondary showcourt at the All England club, with his match safe from the weather interruptions which plagued the event since the start.

“I was happy to finish my match because that’s not the case for everyone,” he said. 

“We know it can rain. On hard courts you cannot play in the rain. 

“But the grass is even worse. As soon as it’s a few drops, you are scared.

“I was happy to be back on Court 1 – I don’t think I’ve ever lost a match there.

“I have only positive emotions.”

Danish sixth seed Holger Rune defeated British wild card George Loffhagen 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2 in another match which began a day earlier but was halted by rain.

“It was a good match, nice to be finished finally,” the winner said. “It was a tough first set. 

“I had to adjust to how he was playing. Maybe in a way it was a bit of my luck that the rain came so I could adjust a few things in my game. 

“I came back very strong. I’m happy to finish in a good style today with some good tennis and plenty of things to build on.”

American Taylor Fritz continued to excel on grass with a 6-4, 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 comeback from two sets to one down to beat German Yannick Hanfmann.

He was joined by good friend and compatriot Tommy Paul, a 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 winner over Japan’s Shintaro Mochizuki.

A third American joined in as Christopher Eubanks put out Thiago Monteiro 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-3; Marcos Giron made it a winning quartet of Yanks, 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4 against Bolivia’ Hugo Dellien.

The day’s victory celebrations were finally capped at five with a 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3 win by Ben Shelton against Taro Daniel.

Canada’s Denis Shapovalov finished off another rained off contest with his 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 defeat of qualifier Radu Albot.