Key events
The grass is already turning into quicksand for Pinnington Jones, who falls a double break down and will soon have to serve to stay in the first set, trailing 5-1. Navarro’s charge, meanwhile, has been checked by Kudermetova after a game of deuces, with the American serving at 3-1, while De Minaur is 2-2 against Cazaux.
If you’re wondering who Pinnington Jones is, he’s another British product of the US college tennis system, and he only left Texas Christian University (also Cameron Norrie’s alma mater) in May after ditching his last year of studies to turn pro. The 22-year-old wildcard beat world No 53 Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the opening round to claim his first grand slam match win and has described today’s meeting with the 23-year-old Cobolli, who’s part of the Italian renaissance in tennis, as the “biggest match of my life”. PJ is also good friends with Jack Draper, having trained together as youngsters.
Navarro isn’t messing around. Twelve minutes in, the 10th seed leads 3-0, and has hit only once unforced error.
Pinnington Jones, looking like the 2002 champ Lleyton Hewitt with his backwards cap and diminutive frame, has begun his match too, but it’s been an inauspicious start. The Brit is broken in the opening game, to 30, after three successive errors: on the forehand, the backhand and then a double fault. Cobolli consolidates the break and it’s 2-0.
Tik, tok, tikity, tok, the players are warming up, but Navarro is in a hurry, she’s already under way on No 3 Court and looks set to hold in the opening game, before being hauled to deuce. But Navarro, who ended the Wimbledon career of the 2011 and 2014 champion Petra Kvitova in the first round, holds when Kudermetova clunks her shot into the net.
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The clock has struck 11, so the players’ first challenge of the day is to battle through the crowds to get to the outside courts. Which is no easy task. Among the early starters: 11th seed Alex de Minaur v France’s Arthur Cazaux, 10th seed Emma Navarro v Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova, Britain’s Jack Pinnington Jones v the Italian 22nd seed Flavio Cobolli and 19-year-old shooting star Jakub Mensik v the American Marcos Giron.
And some pre-play viewing:
I posted this yesterday too, but it’s fun to watch again. If only the powers that be could construct a chain-reaction machine on Centre Court each day to get play under way …
Some pre-play reading:
Weather watch. Yesterday’s rain has done one, so play will get under way on time. The Wimbledon sauna of the first two days has also definitively departed, with a much-more-bearable high of about 25C forecast today.
Today’s order of play
Centre Court (1.30pm UK time)
Daniel Evans (GB) v (6) Novak Djokovic (Ser)
(8) Iga Swiatek (Pol) v Catherine McNally (US)
(1) Jannik Sinner (Ita) v Aleksandar Vukic (Aus)
No 1 Court (1pm)
(7) Mirra Andreeva (Rus) v Lucia Bronzetti (Ita)
Maria Sakkari (Gre) v (11) Elena Rybakina (Kaz)
(4) Jack Draper (GB) v Marin Cilic (Cro)
No 2 Court (11am)
(11) Alex De Minaur (Aus) v Arthur Cazaux (Fra)
(17) Barbora Krejcikova (Cze) v Caroline Dolehide (US)
(28) Sofia Kenin (US) v Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (Spa)
(10) Ben Shelton (US) v Rinky Hijikata (Aus)
No 3 Court (11am)
Veronika Kudermetova (Rus) v (10) Emma Navarro (US)
(19) Grigor Dimitrov (Bul) v Corentin Moutet (Fra)
Sebastian Ofner (Aut) v (13) Tommy Paul (US)
(16) Daria Kasatkina (Aus) v Irina-Camelia Begu (Rom)
Court 12 (11am)
Marcos Giron (US) v (15) Jakub Mensik (Cze)
August Holmgren (Den) v (21) Tomas Machac (Cze)
(23) Clara Tauson (Den) v Anna Kalinskaya (Rus)
Court 18 (11am)
(22) Flavio Cobolli (Ita) v Jack Pinnington Jones (GB)
Suzan Lamens (Ned) v (18) Ekaterina Alexandrova (Rus)
Yuliia Starodubtseva (Ukr) v (19) Ludmilla Samsonova (Rus)
Marton Fucsovics (Hun) v Gael Monfils (Fra)
Court 4 (11am)
Alexander Erler (Aut) & Constantin Frantzen (Ger) v Jenson Brooksby (US) & Adam Walton (Aus)
Quinn Gleason (US) & Ingrid Martins (Bra) v Alexandra Eala (Phi) & Eva Lys (Ger)
(11) Sadio Doumbia (Fra) & Fabien Reboul (Fra) v Zizou Bergs (Bel) & Gabriel Diallo (Can)
Emily Appleton (GB) & Heather Watson (GB) v (5) Mirra Andreeva (Rus) & Diana Shnaider (Rus)
Court 5 (11am)
Yi Fan Xu (Chn) & Zhaoxuan Yang (Chn) v (7) Lyudmyla Kichenok (Ukr) & Ellen Perez (Aus)
(10) Timea Babos (Hun) & Luisa Stefani (Bra) v Jaqueline Cristian (Rom) & Magali Kempen (Rom)
(13) Nathaniel Lammons (US) & Jack Withrow (US) v Pierre-Hugues Herbert (Fra) & Jordan Thompson (Aus)
Billy Harris (GB) & Marcus Willis (GB) v Alexander Bublik (Kaz) & Flavio Cobolli (Ita)
Court 6 (11am)
Maria Camila Osorio Serrano (Col) & Alycia Parks (US) v Alicia Barnett (GB) & Eden Silva (GB)
Guido Andreozzi (Arg) & Marcelo Demoliner (Bra) v (9) Christian Harrison (US) & Evan King (US)
(10) Hugo Nys (Mon) & Edouard Roger-Vasselin (Fra) v Benjamin Bonzi (Fra) & Gregoire Jacq (Fra)
Victoria Azarenka (Blr) & Ashlyn Krueger (US) v Greet Minnen (Bel) & Monica Niculescu (Rom)
Court 7 (11am)
Aleksandar Kovacevic (US) & Learner Tien (US) v N.Sriram Balaji (Ind) & Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela (Mex)
Marie Bouzkova (Cze) & Anna Danilina (Kaz) v Katarzyna Piter (Pol) & Mayar Sherif (Egy)
Matthew Romios (Aus) & Ryan Seggerman (US) v Luciano Darderi (Ita) & Diego Hidalgo (Ecu)
Miriam Skoch (Cze) & Marketa Vondrousova (Cze) v Polina Kudermetova (Rus) & Zeynep Sonmez (Tur)
Court 8 (11am)
Petr Nouza (Cze) & Patrik Rikl (Cze) v (15) Matthew Ebden (Aus) & John Peers (Aus)
(4) Su-Wei Hsieh (Tpe) & Jelena Ostapenko (Lat) v Oksana Kalashnikova (Geo) & Elena Pridankina (Rus)
Cristina Bucsa (Spa) & Miyu Kato (Jpn) v (3) Sara Errani (Ita) & Jasmine Paolini (Ita)
Lui Maxted (GB) & Connor Thomson (GB) v (8) Nikola Mektic (Cro) & Michael Venus (Nzl)
Court 9 (11am)
Yunchaokete Bu (Chn) & Ray Ho (Tpe) v (4) Marcel Granollers (Spa) & Horacio Zeballos (Arg)
Shuko Aoyama (Jpn) & Ena Shibahara (Jpn) v Magda Linette (Pol) & Bernarda Pera (US)
(9) Tereza Mihalikova (Svk) & Olivia Nicholls (GB) v Kamilla Rakhimova (Rus) & Anna Siskova (Cze)
Lucia Bronzetti (Ita) & Ann Li (US) v Olivia Gadecki (Aus) & Desirae Krawczyk (US)
Court 10 (11am)
Ajla Tomljanovic (Aus) & Viktoriya Tomova (Bul) v Eri Hozumi (Jpn) & Aldila Sutjiadi (Ina)
Ella McDonald (GB) & Mingge Xu (GB) v Linda Noskova (Cze) & Rebecca Sramkova (Svk)
(8) Veronika Kudermetova (Rus) & Elise Mertens (Bel) v Hannah Klugman (GB) & Mika Stojsavljevic (GB)
Adam Pavlasek (Cze) & Jan Zielinski (Pol) v Santiago Gonzalez (Mex) & Austin Krajicek (US)
Court 11 (11am)
(6) Asia Muhammad (US) & Demi Schuurs (Ned) v Leylah Fernandez (Can) & Lulu Sun (Nzl)
Hanyu Guo (Chn) & Alexandra Panova (Rus) v Giuliana Olmos (Mex) & Renata Zarazua (Mex)
Robert Cash (US) & JJ Tracy (US) v Sander Arends (Ned) & Arthur Rinderknech (Fra)
Robin Haase (Ned) & Jean-Julien Rojer (Ned) v Nuno Borges (Por) & Marcos Giron (US)
Court 14 (11am)
Francisco Cabral (Por) & Lucas Miedler (Aut) v Jamie Murray (GB) & Rajeev Ram (US)
Fabian Marozsan (Hun) v Jaume Munar (Spa)
Anastasia Zakharova (Rus) v Dayana Yastremska (Ukr)
Johannus Monday (GB) & David Stevenson (GB) v Mattia Bellucci (Ita) & Fabian Marozsan (Hun)
Court 15 (11am)
Miomir Kecmanovic (Ser) v Jesper De Jong (Ned)
Hailey Baptiste (US) v Victoria Mboko (Can)
Pedro Martinez (Spa) v Mariano Navone (Arg)
(1) Katerina Siniakova (Cze) & Taylor Townsend (US) v Anna Bondar (Hun) & Moyuka Uchijima (Jpn)
Court 16 (11am)
(5) Julian Cash (GB) & Lloyd Glasspool (GB) v Vasil Kirkov (US) & Bart Stevens (Ned)
Katie Volynets (US) v Elisabetta Cocciaretto (Ita)
Danielle Collins (US) v Veronika Erjavec (Slo)
(29) Brandon Nakashima (US) v Reilly Opelka (US)
Court 17 (11am)
Xin Yu Wang (Chn) v Zeynep Sonmez (Tur)
Elsa Jacquemot (Fra) v Belinda Bencic (Swi)
(6) Joe Salisbury (GB) & Neal Skupski (GB) v Charles Broom (GB) & Joshua Paris (GB)
Lorenzo Sonego (Ita) v Nikoloz Basilashvili (Geo)
Preamble
Hello and a warm welcome to our coverage of Wimbledon day four. Which almost feels as if it’s day eight given we’ve lost nearly half the seeds already – 16 on the women’s side and 15 on the men’s, to be exact – including four of the top five women, which has happened only once before at a grand slam in the open era. The courts may still be looking fairly pristine, but it’s really been messy out there. And the second round isn’t even over yet.
Among the names attempting to avoid the contagion today are the leader of the British pack Jack Draper; world No 1 Jannik Sinner; our seven-times champion Novak Djokovic, who head-scratchingly has a losing record against Dan Evans going into his match against the rejuvenated Brit; defending champion Barbora Krejcikova; 2022 winner Elena Rybakina; Russian prodigy Mirra Andreeva and towel-snaffling Iga Swiatek. Maybe she’s keen to take as many mementos as she can before the seed-itis strikes.
Alex de Minaur is also in action, along with the hugely talented teen Jakub Mensik and the old-timers Grigor Dimitrov and Gael Monfils, who at 38 is twice the age of Mensik, while Draper and Evans are joined by the most British sounding of British tennis players Jack Pinnington Jones, plus Arthur Fery, who resumes two sets down against Italy’s Luciano Darderi.
And it’s as if the fourth of July has come a day early, with Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul, Emma Navarro, Sofia Kenin, Danielle Collins and the best name in tennis Katie Volynets among the 12 Americans in singles action. And all of this after the fifth seed Taylor Fritz dragged himself through a second successive five-setter last night to reach the third round. At least that’s one leading name who’s still (just about) standing.
Play gets going at: 11am UK time on the outside courts, 1pm on No 1 Court and 1.30pm on Centre Court.
