Day 3 of the Wimbledon championships was a damp affair both in terms of the quality of tennis and the weather. The men’s draw saw Defending champion Novak Djokovic putting away Adrian Mannarino of France in straight sets 6-4 6-3 7-6. In a rather one-sided fixture, the third set break was one of the highlights.
Qualifier Mannarino pushed the Serbian world number 1 to the limit with some brilliant shot making. But in the end, the class of ‘Nole’ prevailed and he has now got 30 straight in grass.
In the other big fixture World number 3 Roger Federer played British qualifier Marcus Willy who is ranked 772 in the world. Coming on the back of a surprise victory in the first round Willy was in high spirits. But soon the gulf In quality was evident with Federer producing a masterful display dispatching Willy in straight sets 6-0 6-3 6-4.
It was heartwarming to see the center court audience get behind Willy and cheering every winner that came off his racquet. Probably the only time Roger didn’t feel the love at SW19.
In the women’s draw the top seeds Radwanska, Halep prevailed in their respective fixtures with easy straight-set victories. Much of the action was delayed on day 3 due to rains in London but play resumed soon and the rest of the fixtures were completed by late evening on the 29th of June.
Hopefully, day 4 at SW19 turns out to be brighter and here is the complete list of fixtures lined up-
Women's singles fixtures-
16.00 | ESP | |||
Kasatkina D. (29) | RUS |
16.00 | Cepelova J. (Q) | SVK | ||
Muguruza G. (2) | ESP |
16.00 | Cibulkova D. (19) | SVK | ||
AUS |
16.00 | Duan Y-Y. (LL) | CHN | ||
Vinci R. (6) | ITA |
16.00 | GER | |||
Alexandrova E. (Q) | RUS |
16.00 | USA | |||
Kerber A. (4) | GER |
16.00 | Moore T. (WC) | ENG | ||
Kuznetsova S. (13) | RUS |
16.00 | Pliskova Ka. (15) | CZE | ||
JPN |
16.00 | KAZ | |||
Svitolina E. (17) | UKR |
16.00 | CZE | |||
Garcia C. (30) | FRA |
16.00 | Stosur S. (14) | AUS | ||
GER |
16.00 | Vandeweghe C. (27) | USA | ||
HUN |
16.00 | Williams S. (1) | USA | ||
USA |
16.00 | Williams V. (8) | USA | ||
Sakkari M. (Q) | GRE |
16.00 | GER | |||
JPN |
16.00 | Zafarova L. (28) | CZE | ||
USA |
16.00 | RUS | |||
Pavlyuchen. A. (21) | RUS |
16.00 | Errani S. (20) | ITA | ||
FRA |
16.00 | BEL | |||
Keys M. (9) | USA |
11:30 | Halep S. (5) | ROU | ||
ITA |
11:30 | Jankovic J. (22) | SRB | ||
Erakovic M. (Q) | NZL |
11:30 | Petkovic A. (32) | GER | ||
RUS |
Men’s singles fixtures-
16.00 | Bautista-A. R. (14) | ESP | ||
KAZ |
16.00 | ARG | |||
Wawrinka S. (4) | SUI |
16.00 | Gasquet R. (7) | FRA | ||
ESP |
16.00 | Kyrgios N. (15) | AUS | ||
Brown D. (WC) | GER |
16.00 | TPE | |||
Murray A. (2) | SCO |
16.00 | ARG | |||
Tsonga J-W. (12) | FRA |
16.00 | Novikov D. (Q) | USA | ||
Sousa J. (31) | POR |
16.00 | Paire B. (26) | FRA | ||
AUS |
16.00 | ESP | |||
Troicki V. (25) | SRB |
16.00 | Cilic M. (9) | CRO | ||
UKR |
16.00 | Goffin D. (11) | BEL | ||
Roger-V. E. (Q) | FRA |
16.00 | RUS | |||
LUX |
16.00 | Lacko L. (Q) | SVK | ||
Karlovic I. (23) | CRO |
16.00 | ESP | ||||||
UZB | |||||||
16.00 | FRA | ||||||
Nishikori K. (5) | JPN |
Men’s doubles fixtures-
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
Cabal J.S./Farah R (13) |
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | Dodig I./Melo M. (5) | |
16.00 | ||
16.00 | Edmund K./Ward J. (WC) | |
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | Huey T./Mirnyi M. (12) | |
16.00 | ||
16.00 | Klein B./Ward A. (WC) | |
Cuevas P./Granollers (15) |
16.00 | ||
16.00 | Kontinen H./Peers J. (10) | |
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
Klaasen R./Ram R. (11) |
16.00 | Pavic M./Venus M. (16) | |
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | Skupski K./Skupski N (WC) | |
Kubot L./Peya A. (7) |
16.00 | ||
Women's doubles fixtures-
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | Atawo R./Spears A. (10) | |
Chan C-W./Han X. (Q) |
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
Bertens K./Larsson J (16) |
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
Barty A./Robson L. (WC) |
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | Errani S./Kalashniko (15) | |
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
King V./Kudryavtseva (13) |
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
16.00 | Medina G.A./Parra S (14) | |
16.00 | Moore T./Perrin C. (WC) | |
16.00 | ||
Gasparyan M./Nicules (12) |
16.00 | Rae J./Smith A. (WC) | |
16.00 | ||
16.00 | ||
Klepac A./Srebotnik (11) |
16.00 | Xu Y-F./Zheng S. (9) | |
Preview-
Day 4 at Wimbledon promises to be action packed with the third round fixtures and remaining second round fixtures.
Britain’s number 1 Andy Murray will take to the center court for his second round match against Yen-Hsun Lu of the Chinese Taipei. The duo has met four times and Murray has won three of the last four fixtures. Considering the form he is in, Murray shouldn’t have much trouble in putting away his opponent ranked 76 in the world.
The men’s draw will also see high-profile players like Richard Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Marin Cilic taking to the court for their respective matches.
The fixture of the day though will be played on center court when World number 5 Stan Wawrinka faces a resurgent Juan Martin Del Potro. The Argentine has had a forgetful 18 months facing injury after injury which halted his development as a player. But now fit and firing we can definitely expect Del-Potro to push Wawrinka to the limit and possibly the first high-profile casualty at SW19.
In the Women’s draw will see all the top 6 seeds in action on day 4 of the championships.
World number 1 Serena Williams faces fellow American Christina Mchale who had earlier beaten veteran, Daniel Hantuchova. Serena remains favorite to win but we fully expect a spirited display from Mchale after what we witnessed on day 3.
In other fixtures former champion Venus Williams, World number 4 Angelique Kerber, Roberta Vinci all play their third round fixtures.
In the women’s draw, the match of the day will be World number 5 Simona Halep facing former Fench open champion Francesca Schiavone. It will be interesting to see if the wily Italian has still got what it takes to push the hard hitting Halep all the way and possibly pull off an upset.
Day 4 has amazing fixtures lined up for tennis fans and hopefully the rain does not play spoilt sport yet again and dampen the mood.
Fans across the world can tune into the following networks to catch all the action live on television:
ARQ (NOVA/CET 21)-CZECH REPUBLIC & SLOVAKIA
B92 (RTS)-SERBIA
BEIJING TV-CHINA
beIN SPORTS-FRANCE, MIDDLE EAST
CCTV5-CHINA
CTV/TSN-CANADA
ESPN-UNITED STATES
EUROSPORT-RUSSIA, UKRAINE, BALTICS, LATVIA, LITHUANIA, ESTONIA, MOLDOVA, ARMENIA
FOX-NETHERLANDS
FOX ASIA-PAN-ASIA
FOX SPORTS-AUSTRALIA
GLOBOSAT/ESPN-BRAZIL
HRT-CROATIA
I.K.O (SPORT KLUB)-BOSNIA, CROATIA, MACEDONIA, MONTENEGRO, SERBIA, SLOVENIA
JIANGSU TV-CHINA
KENTRON TV-ARMENIA
MOVISTAR+-SPAIN
NHK-JAPAN
SETANTA-REPUBLIC OF IRELAND
SEVEN-AUSTRALIA
SKY DEUTSCHLAND-GERMANY & AUSTRIA
SKY ITALIA -ITALY
SPORT TV-PORTUGAL
SPORTS CHANNEL-ISRAEL
SRG-SWITZERLAND
STAR INDIA-INDIA
SVT-SWEDEN
THE TENNIS CHANNEL-UNITED STATES
TV3 (VIASAT)-DENMARK
TVNZ-NEW ZEALAND
Fans can also catch the action on the internet via live streaming on websites www.wimbledon.com and www.starsports.com
All the action kicks off at 3.30pm IST.