LONDON: Fourth seed Alexander Zverev reached the third round at Wimbledon for the third year in succession when he came from 2-1 down to complete a 6-4, 5-7, 6-7(0), 6-1, 6-2 victory over Taylor Fritz in their suspended match on Friday.
The second-round clash on Court One, which lasted three hours 12 minutes, was suspended on Thursday evening in fading light with the 20-year-old American Fritz leading 2-1 after taking a 56-minute third set.
It was the fourth time in six Grand Slam matches that the 21-year-old German had come back from 2-1 down to win a five-setter, after three at the French Open.
World number three Zverev said he had struggled with a stomach virus and the fading light on Thursday.
“Yesterday was tough for several reasons, I had a stomach virus, went to bathroom at the end of the second set and threw up, and last night I didn’t eat anything,” he said.
“It’s a closed court. We played in dark for an hour. I was missing balls I usually don’t miss. It helped me we stopped at the third. We were both struggling to be honest, it helped him to reach the tiebreak.”
As the match looked to be going into a second day, Fritz slipped and fell twice when 6-5 up in the third set, missing the chance to break Zverev’s serve and clinch it before the tiebreak.
But the 68th-ranked American was on a roll and took command of the tiebreak from the start, running out a 7-0 winner.
Zverev said he was returning much harder on Friday, rushing Fritz and giving him less time to react.
“I was seeing the ball much better.”
He added that wearing contact lenses was not an issue. “I feel 100 percent comfortable with contacts. I love playing night sessions.”
Meanwhile, unseeded Frenchman Gael Monfils tamed the power of American Sam Querrey to reach the Wimbledon fourth round for the first time, having previously fallen six times in the third round.
It looked like being a familiar story for the 31-year-old when 11th seed Querrey bombed down nine aces to win the opening set but crowd-pleaser Monfils responded with some dazzling tennis to win 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 on Centre Court.
Monfils levelled the match with an ace of his own after breaking for a 5-3 lead in the second set.
A forehand pass gave him the breakthrough midway through the third set and Querrey’s resistance faded in the heat as Monfils raced through the fourth set in 23 minutes.
In another match, South African eighth seed Kevin Anderson reached the Wimbledon last 16 for the fourth time with a straight-sets win over experienced German Philipp Kohlschreiber on Friday.
The way he played in his 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 victory suggested Anderson could go further than ever before at the All England Club.
Anderson, 32, pressured Kohlschreiber from the start and was gifted an early and decisive break as the German double-faulted and he netted a forehand in the second game.
The South African also broke at the start of the second set but Kohlschreiber hit back immediately.
Anderson bided his time and broke at 5-5 with a forehand winner and held for a two-set lead.
He got a huge slice of luck at 5-5 in the third set when his backhand return flopped off the net tape and over to earn him the break and he served out to love, clenching his first and roaring his delight as Kohlschreiber’s return flew long.
Anderson, the only African left in the singles draws, will face either American Sam Querrey or Frenchman Gael Monfils for a place in the
last eight.
