LONDON: Late-night finishes and five-set matches are becoming a habit for Taylor Fritz at this year’s Wimbledon.
This time, though, he managed to wrap up his win over Gabriel Diallo before the match was suspended — making sure the fifth-seeded American won’t have to come back on court for a fourth straight day.
Fritz overcame a bloodied elbow to win 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (0), 4-6, 6-3 on No. 1 Court on Wednesday.
That was a day after he finished off another five-set win over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in a match that was halted on Monday night at about 10:15 p.m. after Fritz forced a fifth set, with Wimbledon’s 11 p.m. curfew looming.
He completed the win over Diallo a little later than that on Wednesday.
“That’s an incredibly hard match,” Fritz said. “The fourth set that I lost, I really don’t think there’s much I did wrong at all.”
Fritz sustained a cut to his elbow after diving to reach a ball when he had break point while trailing 3-2 in the fourth set. While he returned the ball, Diallo won the point and went on to hold serve.
Now Fritz is looking forward to finally getting a day off.
“Tomorrow is going to be a very, a very light hit. I think I’ve played plenty of tennis,” he said. “I’m very due a nice, relaxing day.”