Novak Djokovic said he would not have been surprised to have had to play a fifth set in his second-round match against youngster Jacob Fearnley at Wimbledon but said he was “relieved to have avoided it”.
The seven-time All England Club champion beat the 22-year-old Scottish tennis player 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 on Centre Court on Thursday in another tough test for the man who recently underwent surgery to repair a knee injury.
“Could I play better and be more mobile? Yes, absolutely,” Djokovic said in a post-match interview. “I hope I can see a steady progression in my game as the tournament goes on.”
Fearnley, a visiting player who recently finished his college career at TCU, caused an explosion of joy in the stands after winning the third set.
“He served very well; it was difficult to break him. He made me work, that’s for sure,” acknowledged the Serb, who will face Alexei Popyrin in the third round.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion said he should have won the match in three sets, but admitted he “didn’t feel so good without his skin, especially in the third and fourth sets.”
“Some days are tougher than others,” he explained, adding, “and of course it all depends on your opponent. I had to go get this win.”
Earlier on Thursday, Britain’s big day at Wimbledon got off to a rocky start as visiting player Yuriko Lily Miyazaki won just 19 points en route to a one-sided 6-0, 6-0 defeat to Daria Kasatkina.
Miyazaki, 28, committed 31 unforced errors and five double faults against Kasatkina, a Russian who won the Eastbourne title before playing at the All England Club.
Kasatkina will now face Spain’s Paula Badosa, who continued her winning ways on Thursday by beating Brenda Fruhvirtova 6-4, 6-2.
Elsewhere, Harriet Dart came back to beat compatriot Katie Boulter, 32e top seed and highest-ranked British singles player, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (10-8). Dart trailed 6-2 in the deciding tiebreaker. Boulter had 75 unforced errors and 39 winners.
Top seed Iga Swiatek extended her winning streak to 21 matches with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Petra Martic.
Fifth seed Jessica Pegula, meanwhile, became the highest-ranked player to be ousted from the tournament. She lost 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-1 to China’s Wang Xinyu. It was Wang’s first win over a top-10 player.
Two-time Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka was seeded third at Wimbledon before withdrawing early in the first round with a shoulder injury.
Ons Jabeur, the 10e The top seed who has reached the last two Wimbledon finals, eliminated 19-year-old American Robin Montgomery 6-1, 7-5.
A handful of other Americans emerged victorious on the Fourth of July.
Danielle Collins (no 11) beat Dalma Galfi 6-3, 6-4, Madison Keys (no 12) dominated Wang Yafan 6-2, 6-2, and Bernarda Pera came from behind to defeat Caroline Garcia (no 23) 3-6, 6-3 and 6-4.
“I’ve always really enjoyed playing on the Fourth of July. I think I’ve spent more Fourths of July in London than anywhere else in the world,” said Keys, 29. “It’s always fun, and it’s definitely an experience.”
Ben Shelton (no 14) won with difficulty against Lloyd Harris of South Africa, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 6-3 and 7-6 (10-7). Arthur Fils also qualified for the third round when the Pole Hubert Hurkacz (no 7) retired in the fourth set with a leg injury. They were battling in a fourth-set tiebreaker after Fils won the first two sets and Hurkacz the third.
Shapovalov continues, Fernandez falls
Quebec’s Leylah Annie Fernandez let two match points slip away on Thursday, ultimately losing 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 to Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki, a former No.o 1 in the world, in the second round of the Wimbledon tournament.
Fernandez gave herself two break points with Wozniacki serving at 4-5 in the third set, but she was unable to put the finishing touches on it. She herself withstood five break points in the next game before yielding in the sixth.
Wozniacki, the 2018 Australian Open champion, has never advanced beyond the round of 16 on London grass. Fernandez, who is 21, has never advanced beyond the second round there.
Fernandez will try to console herself in the doubles, where she will face the Norwegian Ulrikke Eikeri and the Estonian Ingrid Neel in the second round, along with her Japanese partner Ena Shibahara, on Friday.
Ontario’s Denis Shapovalov had more success earlier in the day, advancing to the third round after a hard-fought 7-6 (3), 6-3, 1-6, 6-7 (3), 6-4 victory over Germany’s Daniel Altmaier.
In an uneven effort, Shapovalov had nine aces while committing 16 double faults. The 25-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., finished the match with 58 unforced errors, compared to 28 for Altmaier.
Shapovalov will now face American Ben Shelton.
The representative of the maple leaf is participating in the tournament presented at the All England Club for the seventh time in his career, and his best performance to date is a participation in the semi-finals in 2021.
Quebec’s Félix Auger-Alissime was eliminated in the first round by Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis. In the women’s competition, Canadian qualifier Marina Stakusic suffered the same fate, while Bianca Andreescu faces seventh-seeded Italian Jasmine Paolini on Friday.
The representative of the maple leaf Gabriela Dabrowski is also in the running in doubles with the New Zealander Erin Routliffe. They will cross swords with the Russians Kamilla Rakhimova and Irina Khromacheva.
The beginning of Murray’s farewells
In the evening, on the central court, Andy Murray lost in doubles with his brother Jamie 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, against the Australian pair Rinky Hijikata and John Peers.
He is still involved in mixed doubles with his compatriot Emma Raducanu.
Having undergone surgery nearly two weeks ago for a cyst on his spine, the three-time Grand Slam winner had to resign himself to withdrawing from the singles, but he was determined to play one last time the tournament that made him king: on this Centre Court he won the greatest tennis tournament in history twice. And he won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games there.
The 37-year-old Scot, who has been playing with a metal hip since 2019, is expected to retire after the Paris Olympics this summer.