London: Fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas romped into the third round at Wimbledon on Thursday with an accomplished 6-2 6-3 7-5 victory over Australian Jordan Thompson under the new roof on Court One.
The 23-year-old Greek displayed none of the jitters that lost him a set against qualifier Alexander Ritschard in the first round on Tuesday, breaking Thompson’s serve twice in each of the first two sets and winning the match when the Australian put a forehand long after a tight rally.
Thompson, 28, and ranked 76 in the world has never beaten a top-10 player at a Grand Slam tournament and was upset when the umpire overruled a line call, earning his opponent a break point in the seventh game of the second set.
He thumped a ball in frustration when Tsitsipas took the set while the Greek, who next meets another Australian - temperamental showman Nick Kyrgios - kept his cool on the other side of the net.
Two unsung British players earlier raised the home mood after Wednesday’s woes with Katie Boulter and Liam Broady causing huge upsets in the Wimbledon second round.
Centre Court witnessed the back-to-back exits of Emma Raducanu and Andy Murray on day three, but world number 118 Boulter had the home fans cheering as she stunned last year’s runner-up Karolina Pliskova with a 3-6 7-6(4) 6-4 win.
Hitting back
Over on Court Three, Broady, who like Boulter was handed a wildcard, looked down and out against 12th seed Diego Schwartzman when he lost 11 successive games midway through the match but hit back to win 6-2 4-6 0-6 7-6(6) 6-1.
Both Broady, ranked 132, and Boulter have reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time.
They are joined in round three of the singles by fellow British players Cameron Norrie and Heather Watson while Jack Draper could make it five later on Thursday.
The experienced Watson reached the third round earlier by beating China’s Wang Qiang in a match that was interrupted by bad light the previous evening.
Boulter, ranked 118th in the world, beat Pliskova last week at Eastbourne and was too resolute for the powerful Czech again as she battled back from losing the first set.
She refused to be overpowered by the sixth seed and seized her chance by breaking serve at 4-4 in the deciding set.
Boulter, 25, stayed remarkably cool as she finished the match off in style with a volley.
She was clearly emotional afterwards, revealing that her grandmother had passed away two days ago. “I’m going to get so emotional. I’d like to dedicate it to her,” she said on Centre Court.
