Coming off a title at Queen’s Club and in a wide-open section of the draw, expectations could not be higher for Tommy Paul at Wimbledon. A second-round loss to a qualifier ranked 147th in the world would have been a crushing blow. That almost turned out to be the case on Wednesday evening at the All-England Club, but Paul battled to a 4-6, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Otto Virtanen. The American saved two break points at 2-3 in the fifth, after which a break to love at 4-4 proved to be the final turning point in a roller-coaster ride that lasted three hours and 19 minutes.
“That was an unbelievable match,” Paul said during his on-court interview. “I had to dig deep and fight hard.”
The world No. 13’s triumph was one of a whopping eight five-set matches that concluded on Wednesday–six of which were first-round contests carried over from Tuesday due to either rain or darkness. Other winners who went the distance were Miomir Kecmanovic, Tomas Machac, Roman Safiullin, Arthur Rinderknech, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Lucas Pouille, and Emil Ruusuvuori.
Three results were especially improbable. Kokkinakis saved four match points in the third set against Felix Auger-Aliassime on Tuesday (two on Auger-Aliassime’s serve), eventually pulling off a 4-6, 5-7, 7-6(9), 6-4, 6-4 upset on Wednesday afternoon. Ruusuvuori fought off two match points from 6-4 down in the fourth-set tiebreaker en route to a 7-6(6), 4-6, 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-3 defeat of Mackenzie McDonald. But the most shocking comeback of all belonged to Machac, who trailed David Goffin 5-0 in the fifth set only to take seven of the last eight games–the tiebreaker included–for a 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6(10-5) win.
“I was still trying to play my game and I was believing that at least I could break him once, and let’s see what was going to happen after,” the Czech explained. “I had the chances to break him for the second time in a row and I took the chance and completely turned the match to my side.
“It was a really tough match today. I’m grateful that I can manage to win this match in the fifth, especially when I was losing 0-5. This match will forever stay in mind.”
As for Paul, he now faces a tough grass-courter in Alexander Bublik on Friday, but they find themselves in an otherwise favorable section of the draw in which Casper Ruud had been the No. 8 seed. Ruud lost to Fabio Fognini in round two, so the Paul-Bublik winner will meet an unseeded opponent in either Fognini or Roberto Bautista Agut.
That means Paul continues to be the favorite for a quarterfinal spot alongside Carlos Alcaraz, who advanced on Wednesday afternoon by getting past Aleksandar Vukic 7-6(5), 6-2, 6-2.
