Five-setters: Monfils joins Kyrgios in second round, Tsonga falls to Ymer
A jam-packed schedule on Wednesday at Wimbledon unsurprisingly produced a whole host of five-set matches, which included the likes of Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Gaël Monfils at Wimbledon in 2021
With some decent weather at Wimbledon for the first time this week on Wednesday, a lot more matches were completed compared to what we saw on Monday.
Naturally, with a greater volume of matches came a significant uptick in five-set drama. Before the clock struck 5:00 pm in London, a total of eight five-setters had already been completed. There ended up being 11 in total. Three were carry-overs from previous days because of rain: Nick Kyrgios outlasted Ugo Humbert after they came back out at 3-3 in the fifth after having their match suspended by the 11:00 pm curfew on Tuesday, Gael Monfils finished off Christopher O’Connell, and Cristian Garin completed his win over Bernabe Zipata Miralles. Eight of the five-setters were played in their entirety on Wednesday.
Here are the five-set results so far on today’s schedule:
- Nick Kyrgios d. (21) Ugo Humbert 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 9-7
- (13) Gael Monfils d. (Q) Christopher O’Connell 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4
- (17) Cristian Garin d. (Q) Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-7(6), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
- (WC) Carlos Alcaraz d. (LL) Yasutaka Uchiyama 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
- Mikael Ymer d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5, 6-7(4), 5-7, 6-4, 6-3
- Marcos Giron d. Emil Ruusuvuori 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, 0-6, 6-4
- Jordan Thompson d. (12) Casper Ruud 7-6(6), 7-6(3), 2-6, 2-6, 6-2
- Yoshihito Nishioka d. (28) John Isner 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-4
- (Q) Benjamin Bonzi d. (Q) Marco Trungelliti 6-1, 1-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
- Andy Murray d. (Q) Oscar Otte 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
- Dominik Koepfer d. Soonwoo Kwon 6-3, 6-7(8), 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-3
Kyrgios faced two break points earlier in the fifth set on Tuesday and he stared down two more after earning his own break for an 8-7 lead. The Aussie trailed 15-40 while serving for the match but promptly reeled off four points in a row to clinch victory.
It was Kyrgios’ first match since the Australian Open and his first win since beating none other than Humbert in second-round action Down Under — also in five sets. For the Frenchman, it was a tough defeat after he went into Wimbledon with an 8-1 record on grass this summer. He was the champion in Halle.
“It’s always an honor to play against Nick,” Humbert said. “When he’s playing good, he’s one of the best players. It was really fun on court. It was a really big match. I’m very proud of myself. It was a big game; really big game.”
“Obviously going out there and playing Wimbledon on Court 1, packed crowd, against one of the best players in the world at the moment, one of the most in-form players, it’s a lot of fun,” Kyrgios commented. “I enjoy going out there. Yesterday the crowd was thanking me. They’re like, ‘Thank you, Nick, for keeping me so entertained.’ I’m like, ‘I’m doing my best.’
“So I’ll continue to go out there and try and give them a show and just try and bring that different aspect of tennis. A lot of people wanted me to play because of that. I’m here; I’m trying to give you what I’ve got. That’s that.”
