38-year-old Wawrinka into third round of Wimbledon, faces Djokovic next

Swiss Stan Wawrinka reached the third round of Wimbledon by winning against Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry, the No 29 seed, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London on Thursday.

Wawrinka, ranked No 88, will face Serb Novak Djokovic, the second seed, next.

The two have never played on grass before, but Djokovic dominates their head to head, 20-6.

"Don't tell me the score" 😅@stanwawrinka is happy and excited by the challenge to face Novak Djokovic on grass for the first time 🌱#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/V3NZeCYRpD

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 6, 2023

“I will enjoy it if I don’t get killed!” joked Wawrinka about the prospect of facing the 23-time Grand Slam champion. I’ll try to push to the maximum and see what happens.”

Later in his post-match press conference, Wawrinka had more to say about the pair’s 27th showdown.

“I think it’s great to play him at least one time here on grass,” he said. “It’s going to be the first time Wimbledon. Of course I’m excited, and I’m happy to have the chance to play against him after we played in every other Grand Slam, a lot of other tournaments.”

No chance against Djokovic

The three-time major champion isn’t feeling overly sanguine about his prospects from here at Wimbledon.

“There’s zero opportunity to win Wimbledon for me, I think,” he said. “I’m happy to have won today again. I think it was great match. I’m playing better each match, and as I say, I think it’s an honor to play Novak here. I was missing that on my career to play him in the Grand Slam in Wimbledon. That’s the last I never played him, and it’s going to be a difficult challenge.

“Hopefully I can make a competitive match, but if you will look at recent results, I don’t really stand a chance.”

The 38-year-old Swiss defeated Finn Emil Ruusuvuori (7-5, 7-5, 6-4) ahead of his victory.

In the previous round of The Championships, Etcheverry, ranked No 32, came back against Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles (6-7 (5), 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5).

London (Grand Slam), other second-round results (All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, grass, GBP 16.077.000, most recent results first):

• Cameron Norrie vs. Christopher Eubanks
• Roberto Carballes Baena vs. Holger Rune
• Carlos Alcaraz vs. Alexandre Muller
• Andy Murray vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas
• Ben Shelton vs. Laslo Djere
• Mikael Ymer vs. Taylor Fritz
• Marcos Giron vs. Marton Fucsovics
• Daniil Medvedev vs. Adrian Mannarino
• Frances Tiafoe vs. Dominic Stricker
• Ilya Ivashka vs. Grigor Dimitrov
• Corentin Moutet vs. Roman Safiullin
• Guido Pella vs. Harold Mayot
• Daniel Elahi Galan vs. Oscar Otte
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Jiri Lehecka
• Tomas Barrios Vera vs. David Goffin
• Milos Raonic vs. Tommy Paul
• Liam Broady vs. Casper Ruud: thursday
• Andrey Rublev vs. Aslan Karatsev: thursday
• Denis Shapovalov vs. Gregoire Barrere: thursday
• Maximilian Marterer beat Michael Mmoh (LL): 7-5, 7-6 (5), 6-4
• Alexander Bublik (23) beat J.J. Wolf: 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-0
• Hubert Hurkacz (17) beat Jan Choinski (WC): 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (3)
• Lorenzo Musetti (14) beat Jaume Munar: 6-4, 6-3, 6-1
• Quentin Halys beat Aleksandar Vukic: 6-3, 6-1, 6-4
• Jannik Sinner (8) beat Diego Schwartzman: 7-5, 6-1, 6-2
• Novak Djokovic beat Jordan Thompson: 6-3, 7-6 (4), 7-5