No. 12 seed American Francis Tiafoe joined the parade of seed players leaving Wimbledon on Wednesday as he was eliminated by 2022 semifinalists Cameron Norry 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5.
With seven majors since its inception in 2024, Tiafoe was eliminated in the second four. Wimbledon is at least the only major that hasn’t reached the quarterfinals, losing in the third or fourth rounds of the past four years.
It was when he lost the 2019 opening match that he ended the All England club before the third round.
Avoiding the upset bug on Wednesday was the fifth American Taylor Fritz, who has become a habit of late-night finishes and five-set matches at Wimbledon this year.
However, this time he managed to close the victory over Gabriel Diallo in court No. 1 before the match was stopped.
That was the day after he finished another five set victory over Giovanni Mpezzi’s Peripeude in a match that stopped at about 10:15pm on Monday night after Fritz forced the fifth set.
He completed his victory over Diallo a little later than Wednesday.
“It’s an incredibly difficult game,” Fritz said. “The fourth set I’ve lost, I really don’t think I’ve done anything wrong.”
Fritz maintained a cut to the elbow after diving to reach the ball while chasing 3-2 in the 4 sets. He returned the ball, but Diallo scored points and kept the serve.
Fritz currently plays two matches in three days, totaling 109 games. He looks forward to finally taking his break.
“Tomorrow is going to be a very light hit. I think I played a lot of tennis,” he said. “It’s a great thing that I’ll have a very relaxed day.”
Fritz is the seventh top five seed in the open era, starting the majors with five consecutive sets of victory in the third round, and the third can do that at Wimbledon. He tries to win the title after repeating what Boris Becker did at the 1996 Australia Open, starting with five setters in a row.
Previously at No. 1 courthouse, Tiafoe got off to a good start and won the opening set with one serve break. However, Nolly, who never beat a top 20 player at Wimbledon, everything changed from the second end as Tierfoe broke with energy and oral points as he began to fade.
Tiafoe left the court for a bathroom break before the start of the fourth set, but Nolly did not postpone his stride and took a 4-3 lead. Again, Tearfoe managed to respond, but Nolly was once again raid on the American serve and closed the match so there was no relent.
Another American, Jenson Brooksby, lost his second match this week to 18-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca, the youngest man on the All-England club field.
Fonseca became the youngest man to reach the third round of Wimbledon since Bernard Tomic in 2011, and the second Brazilian man to advance it much more in the last 20 years (the other was Thomaz Bellucci in 2010).
“It’s certainly something I’m proud of,” said Fonseca, who only performs at the fourth tour-level event in Grass. “I’m very pleased with the way it has evolved on this surface. I’m evolving, so I’m happy with it.”
Also on Wednesday, Chilean qualifier Nicholas Jarry expelled American learners Tien 6-2, 6-2 and 6-3. This is the fifth consecutive year that a Chilean man has reached his third round at Wimbledon after an incident once between 2010 and 2019.
Fonseca and Jarry are then set up to face each other. During the open era, two South Americans played each other in the third round and beyond. Both happened in 2002.
“I know Chilean fans, they’re loud
Ethan Quinn became the fourth American man to fall on Wednesday, complaining of a straight set defeat by Polish Kamil Majaklzak.
The 29th species, American Brandon Nakashima, wrapped a 6-4 victory over Yunchaokete BU, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (1) after the match was suspended Tuesday due to darkness.
In the top half of the draw on Thursday there are five American men, including a head-to-head match between Nakashima and Riley Opelka.
ESPN research, Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
