The first big surprise of Wimbledon 2021 came on the first day. Stefanos Tsitsipas, seed number three and Novak Djokovic's most dangerous rival in the upper part of the frame, fell on its premiere and, in addition, in three sets against Frances Tiafoe, who did not make it past the start of the tournament in 2019 and had only won three matches at the British Grand Slam. The 23-year-old American, 57th in the world, gave a tremendous review of the 22-year-old Greek: 6-4, 6-3 and 6-3 in two hours and two minutes. Now, after beating a top-5 for the first time, He will take the path of one of the big favorites to face Vasek Pospisil.
The main cause of the Tsitsipas disaster was his inability to take advantage of the break options he had., up to seven of which did not convert any. The American, on the other hand, broke his serve four times in eight attempts. Stefanos had always beaten Tiafoe, in the 2019 Hopman Cup and the Tokyo 2017 qualifier, in unofficial matches, and in the 2018 NextGen ATP Finals. The Athenian is still denied in the fog major, where he has the best result in the eighth of 2018. This was his fourth participation and it will leave him with a very bad memory, because of the defeat and the way it happened. “For sure the lack of matches on grass was crucial today. I started to feel my game better at the end of the third set. There I hit my blows better. I felt that I handled the pressure better and that I adapted better to the court, “said Tsitsipas, who did not play any of the tournaments prior to Wimbledon, at a press conference. The great beneficiary of his elimination, in addition to Djokovic, is Roberto Bautista, that he had as a possible rival with the finalist just a few days ago at Roland Garros.
Sinner falls to Fucsovics
The other surprise, although less important, of the day was the elimination of Jannik Sinner, 19th favorite, who fell to the irregular Hungarian Marton Fucsovics (5-7, 6-3, 7-5 and 6-3 in 3:04 ). A disappointment for the 19-year-old Italian who came hoping to do well in his tournament debut, though perhaps he came short of preparation after falling to Draper in the second round at Queen's. Fucsovics, who dispatched 30 winners and 52 unprovoked misses (Sinner added 55), will now meet Czech Jiri Vesely.
With a little more experience, Andrey Rublev (fifth seeded) knew how to carry out his commitment against the Argentine fighter Federico Delbonis despite giving him the first set (4-6, 6-4, 6-1 and 6-2 in 2: fifteen). The Russian placed 40 winners and broke his rival's serve six times. He will play against Berankis or Harris.
Results and men's box calendar.