Ben Shelton lost a first-set tiebreaker in the third round at Wimbledon before he rallied to win a five-set thriller over Canada’s Denis Shapovalov 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 on Saturday at the All England Club.
With eight-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer in the stands on the No. 1 court, Shelton broke Shapovalov twice in the first five games of the final set to rally from a 2-1 deficit on sets in each of his first three matches of the tournament.
Shelton won 81 percent of his first serves and had 38 winners in his third consecutive five-set match while advancing to the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time. In major tournaments, he has advanced as far as the semifinals at the U.S. Open and the quarterfinals at the Australian Open.
Shelton will next face Italy’s top-seeded Jannik Sinner, who got past Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic in three sets Friday.
No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic lost his first set before recovering to post a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory over Alexei Popyrin of Australia.
Both players had 19 aces and Djokovic had a 53-52 edge in winners. However, he committed 13 fewer errors (18 to 31) than Popyrin.
“It was another tough match. I didn’t expect anything less what we experienced on the court today from Alexei,” Djokovix said. “With that serve and powerful forehand, he’s dangerous on any surface.”
Djokovic said his injured right knee was feeling well during the match.
Djokovic, a seven-time Wimbledon champ, will next face No. 15 Holger Rune of Denmark. Rune outlasted qualifier Quentin Halys of France 1-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-1.
No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany closed out a 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (15) victory over Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie by closing out the match on his sixth match point. He also saved five set points in the tiebreak.
After twice receiving treatment for a knee injury that occurred during the match, Zverev advanced to face No. 13 Taylor Fritz, who beat No. 24 Alejandro Tabilo of Chile 7-6 (3), 6-3, 7-5.
Zverev said he will undergo further examination of the knee.
“My knee went too straight. I overstretched it,” Zverev said. “I do have pain right now. I will check it. I will see what the MRI says. But I personally don’t think that it can be anything too serious because I still played. Of course, I was limited, I feel like, in some of the movements.”
Fritz had advantages of 20-8 in aces and 55-32 in winners in his victory over Tabilo.
No. 5 seed Daniil Medvedev of Russia also advanced to the fourth round with a 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (3) victory over Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff. Medvedev had 17 unforced errors to 37 for Struff and will face Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round.
No. 9 seed Alex De Minaur of Australia won in a walkover over France’s Lucas Pouille and will face France’s Arthur Fils, who rallied to win a five-set match 4-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 against Russia’s Roman Safiullin.
Spain’s Roberto Bautista-Agut also pulled off a five-set victory, advancing to the fourth round with a 7-6 (6), 3-6, 5-7, 7-6 (1), 6-4 victory over Italy’s Fabio Fognini. Bautista-Agut survived 23 aces by Fognini by making 39 unforced errors to 77 for his opponent and will next face American Tommy Paul.
No. 16 Ugo Humbert of France won his third-round match 7-6 (9), 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6) over Brandon Nakashima. Humbert next faces No. 3 seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain.
No. 25 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy defeated Argentina’s Francisco Comesana 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3, and France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard moved into the fourth round with a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory over Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori.
–Field Level Media
