Wimbledon Men’s third round review

Only one of my dark horses remains in the draw – Musetti. The 25th seed beat Comesana in four sets. In the next round, he faces the big server Perricard. That match really could go either way and it’s not ideal for the Italian to be meeting a player with such a weapon as Perricard has. Still, it’s better than facing one of the favorites.

One favorite, Alcaraz, got past Tiafoe in five. Once he’d won a tight fourth seed, the Spaniard cruised home in the fifth. Tiafoe seemed to know the window he’d opened with his crushing play in set four had passed him and looked a little resigned to his fate. Alcaraz is 12-1 in five setters and that’s one stat that his opponents will always have in the back of their minds.

Another favorite, Sinner, easily handled Kecmanovic in straights. He really is dealing with being the top seed with such a level head and looks like the champion in waiting.

Zverev also made it through, beating Norrie in three, and Djokovic beat Popyrin in four.

Shelton won his third five setter in a row, beating Shapovalov. Impressive stuff. He’s showing real fight and desire and is following up on last year’s USO semi-final very well.

There were another three matches that went the distance – RBA over Fognini, Fils beating Safuillin and Rune defeating Halys.

Humbert, who is a player to watch, beat Nakashima in four. Meanwhile another favorite of mine, Bublik, went out to Paul in three. Bublik was starting to impress but Paul is frustrating to play against, so calm and consistent, for players like him.

The fourth round looks as follows:

Sinner vs Shelton

Dimitrov vs Medvedev

Alcaraz vs Humbert

Paul vs RBA

Musetti vs Perricard

Fritz vs Zverev

Fils vs de Minaur

Rune vs Djokovic.

That’s a very enticing line up. However, if the favorites win, the QFs might be quite predictable. We’d have:

Sinner vs Medvedev

Alcaraz vs Paul

Musetti vs Zverev

Djokovic vs De Minaur.

Let’s hope for:

Shelton vs Dimitrov

Humbert vs Paul

Musetti vs Fritz

Rune vs Fils.

An organizer’s nightmare, but a fan’s dream!