Rune rallies, Fritz fires into third round at Wimbledon

Holger Rune reacted to an early setback in style on Thursday to book his third-round spot at Wimbledon.

The 15th-seeded Dane rallied for an ultimately commanding 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 triumph against Thiago Seyboth Wild at the grass-court major. Rune broke his opponent’s serve five times across the second, third and fourth sets to register a two-hour, 10-minute victory on Court 18.

“It was good,” said Rune when reflecting on his performance in his post-match press conference. “The first set was difficult. He played very freely, didn't make many mistakes, and put me under a lot of pressure. So definitely I had to adjust on a few things, but I did, and I improvised. So I'm happy with the victory.”

Rune, who equalled his best Grand Slam result by reaching the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 2023, is now 24-13 for the season. Although he is competing as the World No. 15 — his lowest PIF ATP Ranking since October 2022 — at SW19, the Dane will be buoyed by the way he has seen off Soonwoo Kwon and Seyboth Wild on the London grass.

His next opponent will be Quentin Halys. The big-serving French qualifier upset 21st seed Karen Khachanov 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the third round for the second consecutive year.

Another Top 20 star, Taylor Fritz, also needed four sets to book his third-round spot. The American overcame Arthur Rinderknech 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to improve to 8-1 on grass this year, a tally that includes winning the Eastbourne title for the third time.

It was the second major in a row in which Fritz and Rinderknech had met in the second round. Their meeting at Roland Garros in late May also ended with a four-set victory for the American, and he now leads Rinderknech 2-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Fritz will take on another recent grass-court titlist, Mallorca champion Alejandro Tabilo, in the third round. Tabilo downed Flavio Cobolli 7-6(4), 7-6(4), 4-6, 4-6, 6-4.