Rain, activists affect play on Day 3; Swiatek cruises
WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND >> Rain again affected play at Wimbledon on Day 3 of the grass-court tournament, and environmental activists halted two matches as well.
Intermittent showers Wednesday forced matches on the outside courts to be suspended twice, while play in the main stadiums was also stopped for a short time because of the weather.
That didn’t stop topranked woman Iga Swiatek and defending men’s champion Novak Djokovic from reaching the third round in straight sets on Centre Court. But it did prevent several other players from even taking the court, with some first-round matches pushed back until Thursday.
Two Just Stop Oil protestors were arrested after disrupting one match by running onto Court 18 and throwing orange confetti onto the grass, before being led off by security.
That stopped the firstround encounter between Grigor Dimitrov and Sho Shimabukuro early in the second set, and the rain then came before the confetti could be cleared.
The match resumed with the others after the rain delay. The two protestors were arrested “on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage,” the All England Club said in a statement.
The rain had already created a major backlog of matches after the first two days, and only eight matches were completed on Tuesday. Several matches scheduled for the outside courts on Wednesday were pushed back to Thursday.
Only Centre Court and No. 1 Court at the All England Club have roofs.
On Centre Court on Wednesday, Swiatek eased into the third round with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Sara Sorribes Tormo, hitting 27 winners compared to just three for her opponent. Djokovic was up next, and defeated Jordan Thompson of Australia 6-3, 7-6 (4), 7-5 to become the third player in history to reach 350 Grand Slam match wins — joining Roger Federer and Serena Williams.
Fifth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas had to win a fifthset, first-to-10 tiebreaker to get past former U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem, beating the Austrian 3-6, 7-6 (1), 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (10-8) in a match that had been suspended overnight in the second set. Tsitsipas will next face two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray in the second round.
On No. 1 Court, thirdseeded Daniil Medvedev beat British 20-year-old Arthur Fery 7-5, 6-4, 6-3.
American duo Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe both reached the second round, but in contrasting fashion. The ninth-seeded Fritz came from a set down to beat Yannick Hanfmann of Germany 6-4, 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 on No. 2 Court in a match that started Monday, while Tiafoe defeated Yibing Wu in straight sets on No. 3 Court.