TENNIS – The highest ever average rally length for a ladies’ singles match at Wimbledon was the key statistic from the match between Spain’s Sorribes Tormo and Germany’s number 25 seed Kerber on day 4 of the Wimbledon championship.
Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo may have lost the match to 2018 champion Kerber, but both players were given a standing ovation by the No.2 Court crowd after a three hours and 19 minutes epic match.
Each set last past the hour mark, with Sorribes Tormo saving a match point deep in the second. The contest featured the highest ever average rally length for a ladies’ singles match at Wimbledon – 8.16 shots.
Sorribes Tormo won her first WTA singles title earlier this year in Guadalajara and her early-season form was on show here. Kerber was up a break twice, at 2-0 and 4-2. However, Sorribes Tormo showed incredible resilience pulling back on serve, and saving a match point at 5-4 with a backhand slice.
The match was decided by Kerber’s one extra service break, which came in the final game of the clash at love.
Martinez despatches number 13 seed Monfils
Pedro Martinez had a successful second round match, defeating the number 13 seed, France’s Gael Monfils, in four sets.
A tight tie break in the fourth set, saw Martinez clinch the match 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (5). This is the 24-year-old Spaniard’s first Wimbledon draw. Now into the third round, he will face another seed in Chilean Cristian Garin (17). Both more at home on clay, it will be interesting to see how they match up on grass.
Alcaraz loses to no.2 seed Medvedev
The Russian star was ruthless on No. 1 Court on Thursday, dismissing Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 in just one hour and 34 minutes.
“The faster you go at a Grand Slam the better, but Carlos is an amazing player,” Medvedev said in his on-court interview. “I was actually even surprised in a way with the first set. Grass is definitely not his best surface, but he was giving it all there. Of course [in the] second and third sets, maybe the gap was too high. But I’m sure he’s going to be sooner or later in the top 10 and maybe even higher.”
Wimbledon Day 5 – top matches
There are some notable matches on day 5 of the tournament, with Spain’s Muguruza looking to advance to the fourth round against Tunisian Jabeur, seeded 21.
This is a tough match for Muguruza, despite her slightly higher seeding. Indeed, the Wimbledon website has an ‘upset alert’ on this match, with the Ons Jabeur edging the likelihood to win percentage 51 to 49.
Britons Dan Evans, seeded 22, and Andy Murray are both in action today. Evans faces American Sebastian Korda seen as one of the tour’s most promising players.
Murray takes on number 10 seed Shapovalov from Canada. Despite Murray’s pedigree on grass, the prediction is for Shapovalov to run out the winner, but with Murray’s comeback tournament looking good so far, there is the possibility of an upset.
Spain’s number 8 seed, Bautista Agut meets German Koepfer in this third-round match. Koepfer entered the top 50 rankings recently and may pose a challenge to the Spaniard.
