July 4, 2019 - Petra Martić is Croatia's last remaining hope in the singles competition of Wimbledon.
Another victory for Petra Martić at Wimbledon! After defeating American Jennifer Brady by coming back from 0:1 in sets, Martić defeated18-year-old Russian Anastasia Potapova (71st on the WTA ranking) with a score of 3:6, 6:3, 6:4 for a spot in the 3rd round.
After losing the first set, Petra lost her service at the start of the second set, and things weren’t looking too promising. However, Petra woke up and started to play, and held her first strike firmly until the end of the match. In the decisive set, Petra broke her opponent already in the first game - and Potapova saw no return.
On her way to the victory, Martić hit one ace, realized 60 percent of the first serve, and executed four out of nine break points (Potapova only three out of 17). With this win, Petra has reached a new career ranking - and is currently the 19th best female tennis player in the world. In the third round, Petra will play against American Danielle Collins.
After defeating the 7th seed Greek player Stefanos Tsitsipas, it was Thomas Fabbiano (89th on the ATP ranking) to advance to the third round of this year's Wimbledon after he defeated Ivo Karlović in a big battle of five sets and more than three hours of play. Fabbiano won 6:3, 6:7 (6), 6:3, 6:7 (4), 6:4.
Fabbiano took Karlović’s serve on three occasions during the match, and Karlović had only one break point in the ninth game of the decisive set - Ivo played an excellent volley, but the Italian came back with a brilliant backhand on the line. Fabbiano won in the next game. In the end, Ivo managed 38 aces and realized 64 percent of his first serve.
Just like last year, Marin Čilić finished his Wimbledon tournament in the 2nd round. Namely, Portuguese player Joao Sousa (69th on the ATP ranking) defeated the 13th seed of the tournament and former finalist in an easy three sets - 6:4, 6:4, 6:4.
To make matters worse, before this game, Marin had not lost a single set in his four encounters against Sousa, though he was utterly helpless on Thursday.
Namely, Čilić did not use any of the 12 break points in the match and made 46 unforced errors (Sousa only seven). He had nine aces (and realized 51 percent of the first serve) with as many as eight double faults.
After this loss, it is almost impossible for Marin to keep his existing ranking (18th) in the months ahead - and if we were to base his ranking on this year alone, he’d be 54th.
In the doubles competition, Nikola Mektić and Franko Škugor won in the first round, as did Mate Pavić and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares.
All results are courtesy of HTS.
To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page.
