| Venue: All England Club Dates: 3-16 July |
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Veteran Stan Wawrinka set up a third-round Wimbledon match against reigning champion Novak Djokovic by toppling 29th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam champion, gained a 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-2 victory, but the 38-year-old does not expect to defeat Djokovic.
“Hopefully I can make it competitive, but if you look at recent results, I don’t have a chance,” said Wawrinka.
Elsewhere, Andrey Rublev, Alexander Zverev and Matteo Berrettini also won.
Wawrinka, from Switzerland and 88th in the world rankings, has won each of the Grand Slams apart than Wimbledon. He took the opening set against Argentine Etcheverry in just over 30 minutes on a packed court three.
Etcheverry fought back to level, but Wawrinka won the next two sets to set up a Centre Court meeting on Friday with 36-year-old Djokovic, a player he beat in the finals of the 2015 French Open and the 2016 US Open.
“I’m happy to have won and I think it was a great match – I’m playing better each match,” said Wawrinka.
“It will be an honour to play Novak here. I was missing that in my career to play him in the Grand Slam in Wimbledon – it’s going to be a difficult challenge.”
Zverev and Berrettini finally get to play first-round matches
Rublev, the seventh seed, had to fight back from a set down to beat fellow Russian Aslan Karatsev 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-4 7-5 in another second-round match.
There were rain delays on each of the opening three days, meaning 17 first-round matches across the men’s and women’s singles still had to be completed on Thursday.
Germany’s Alexander Zverev was one of those players to have not seen any action in the opening three days and he gained a hard-fought 6-4 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5) win over Dutch qualifier Gijs Brouwer on Court One.
Zverev, the former world number two but now the 19th seed, missed last year’s tournament following a serious knee injury he sustained during the 2022 French Open semi-finals.
“I’m just happy to be back at Wimbledon,” Zverev said. “I missed it last year with a bad injury so just to be on this court I’m happy to be here with 10,000 people.
“Wimbledon is the most historic tennis tournament in the world and maybe the most historic sporting event in the world.
“Being involved is something special and I have definitely missed it.”
Berrettini lost to Djokovic in the Wimbledon final two years ago and was another on first-round duty on Thursday, recording a 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 7-6 (9-7) 6-3 win over fellow Italian Lorenzo Sonego.
In round two, unseeded Berrettini will play 15th seed Alex de Minaur after the Australian beat Belgian qualifier Kimmer Coppejans 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-3 7-6 (7-2).
There were also first-round wins for Chile’s Nicolas Jarry and Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the 25th and 31st seeds respectively.
In round two, Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti, Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik and Canada’s Denis Shapovalov, seeded 14th, 23rd and 26th respectively, all gained straight-sets victories.
Shapovalov will next play British wildcard Liam Broady after the Briton stunned fourth seed Casper Ruud in Thursday’s opening match on Centre Court.
