London: British wildcard Liam Broady claimed the biggest win of his career and the biggest shock of Wimbledon 2023 when he stunned Norwegian fourth seed Casper Ruud 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-3 6-0 in front of a delirious Centre Court crowd on Thursday.
Broady belied his 142nd ranking against a player who has reached three of the last five Grand Slam finals but had struggled at Wimbledon in his three previous appearances.
After four closely-fought, if erratic sets, Ruud, who said he had spent the three weeks since reaching the French Open final relaxing well away from tennis, looked like he had mentally packed his bags again ias Broady ripped through the decider to seal a memorable win.
"It's a pretty terrifying, exhilarating experience, coming out on Centre Court at Wimbledon. It's been my dream since I was five years old," Broady said in an on-court interview.
"I said to my mum this morning, she doesn't like watching, but I said I've already won 80,000 pounds this week this week so she can chill out a bit."
Apart from the huge difference in the world rankings, there was little between the two in the match – not least in their extraordinarily similar appearance.
Both 6ft (183cm) and of similar build, they sported identical shirts and shorts and both had tie-up white headbands, with only a small logo on the front of Ruud’s giving the eagle-eyed an identity clue.
It meant concentration was needed to watch them as a glance away from the court left fans having to quickly recalibrate who to cheer - and there was plenty of opportunity on both sides.
GRASS SURFACE
Broady was into his stride quickly as the Norwegian struggled to adapt to the grass surface he is very unfamiliar with and though the Briton was first to drop serve, he hit back to take the first set.
It was a similar start to the second set as Ruud broke for 3-1, but this time maintained his advantage.
When he went two sets to one up, it seemed the natural order would be resumed, but Broady thought otherwise.
He cut down his errors and produced a run of strong service games to take charge of the fourth, epitomised by serving out to love to force a decider.
Since losing to Novak Djokovic in Paris, Ruud has been clay pigeon shooting, playing golf and soaking up the sun on a boat, hardly the best preparation for the game’s most prestigious tournament.
Broady sensed blood, breaking to love in the opening game of the fifth set and, using his double-fisted backhand to good effect, he came from 40-0 down to break again and served out to love for 4-0 and then wrapped it up at a canter for his first Tour win against a top-10 rival.
Broady was the lowest-ranked player Ruud has lost to but he was sanguine in defeat.
"Of course, ranking-wise it's an upset, but I consider him a better grass court player than me," said Ruud, who hadn't seen a grass court until he was 16.
"His shots are much more effective than mine on grass. He moves probably better. I was slipping a little here and there, losing my balance," Ruud added.
"It's just difficult. But I'm going to keep trying. I have a goal to try to do well here at some point. It didn't happen this year but I honestly love coming here. It's such a special place."
Fifth seed Garcia squeezes through
It took a first-to-10-point shootout but French fifth seed Caroline Garcia finally overcame Leylah Fernandez in three sets to reach the Wimbledon third round.
Having dropped the opening set 6-3, in which Fernandez slammed 10 clean winners, the Frenchwoman – her right racket arm and shoulder strapped heavily – levelled with a 6-4 second set before doing just enough to edge the championship tiebreak 10-6 in a decider during which neither was able to break serve.
"I could be crying probably under the shower right now. That means how close it was," Garcia told reporters.
"It was a big battle obviously... We had a couple of tough matches already this year. Today was kind of the same, even closer. (I'm) Super happy with the win. Yeah, Leylah is a tough opponent, for sure."
Canadian Fernandez, displaying glimpses of the form which took her to that surreal 2021 U.S. Open final which she lost to Britain’s Emma Raducanu, played with poise and power from the back of the court, and caused Garcia problems throughout.
But in the end it was, by the narrowest of margins, Garcia who skipped across the court pumping her fist and beaming a huge smile in victory.
She will next face Czech Marie Bouzkova who sent Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit into retirement from professional tennis with a 6-1 6-2 victory and, if not 100% comfortable on grass, she is at least happy to be coming to terms with life on the tricky grass surface.
"I would not say I found my rhythm. I mean, I just won 7-6 in the third ... but obviously I play (an) aggressive game, so it may look like grasscourts should suit more that kind of player.
"I try to use my rhythm, my timing. And with time ... experience, I find I just (feel) a little bit better."
