After a testing five consecutive days on court, Stefanos Tsitsipas claimed a fourth-round spot —and a hard-earned day off — with a straight-sets victory against Laslo Djere on Saturday at Wimbledon.
The fifth-seeded Greek prevailed 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-4 on Court 2 at the All England Club to reach the last 16 for the second time at the grass-court major. Tsitsipas held his nerve at the tail end of tight first and second sets before a confident third-set display booked a fourth-round clash against Christopher Eubanks in London.
Due to persistent rain in London, Tsitsipas’ five-set opening win against Dominic Thiem took place across Tuesday and Wednesday in the UK capital, while his second-round victory against two-time champion Andy Murray, which also went the distance, was spread across Thursday and Friday. After converting three of his four break points against Djere, the 24-year-old became the first Greek player to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon on multiple occasions.
“It’s the first time this week that I’ve made it easy for [myself],” said Tsitsipas in his on-court interview. “I’ve had a [couple of] thrillers the past few days. It took Noah 14 days to build the ark and it feels like the past two matches are equivalent to something like that.
“I’ve never played a match that lasted two days, with rain delaying everything for so long. It’s been four days [to complete two matches]. It’s never easy, and it makes my life so much easier when I come back here, feeling the love of the crowd.”
Moments before Tsitsipas completed his two-hour, 10-minute victory, Mallorca champion Eubanks had booked his own fourth-round spot by downing O’Connell 7-6(5), 7-6(3), 7-6(2) on Court 18.
More to follow…