Former Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini lived up to his dark horse tag with an impressive second-round win over 20th seed Arthur Fils to earn a first Centre Court triumph since 2021.
Berrettini missed out on a maiden grand slam title five years ago to Novak Djokovic and had experienced defeats on the main arena at All England Club in recent years to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
Yet buoyed by an entertaining four-set victory over Stan Wawrinka on Tuesday, Berrettini wiped out Fils and sealed success with a classy volley on third match point.
“It was such a nice moment playing against a legend like Stan, Court One, and a match I will definitely remember for the rest of my life, but I also think this one is pretty special on Centre Court,” Berrettini said after a 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 win.
“It has been a while since I played here and on behalf of myself, on behalf of my team, thanks for all the support. You have been unbelievable… I found the right energy in the fourth.
“I’m here, I’m happy, I’m back and smiling while I’m playing.”
Second seed Alexander Zverev joined Berrettini in the third round after he chalked up a 50th tour-level victory on grass with a routine 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) success over Valentin Royer.
At the end of day four Grigor Dimitrov rolled back the years on Court One to stun 15th seed Jakub Mensik with a brilliant 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory.
Dimitrov was handed a wild card for this year’s Championships after he suffered a devastating injury in 2025 while two sets up on eventual winner Jannik Sinner.
“I honestly don’t have much to say other than I am so happy to be back and to play tennis in front of you guys,” said an emotional Dimitrov, who will face Berrettini in a blockbuster third-round match.
Fifth seed Alex De Minaur was happy to bring the heat after a dominant serving display downed Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 at the start of day four.
De Minaur, the fiance of British player Katie Boulter, was strongly backed on Court Three and won 80% of his points on first serve, but only after a change in tactics midway though his one-hour-and-50-minute win.
He said: “Part of the game plan early on was to try to have a high percentage of first serves and maybe take a little bit of pace off, try to jam it into the body a little bit.
“Then funnily enough in a couple of big moments where I just went for my serves and started to drop a little bit more heat, I ended up serving better.”
Taylor Fritz also wasted little time on court after the sixth seed got the better of compatriot Patrick Kypson in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, 7-5.
He again arrived on court in a stylish Hugo Boss outfit, which was followed by a smoother discarding of his white trousers.
“I took it off slowly in the first round. I kind of actually made a mess of it. It’s actually just a lot easier to just rip them off. I saw a video of Frances (Tiafoe) doing it. I was just trying to copy him,” Fritz laughed ahead of a third-round meeting with Lorenzo Sonego.
Seeds Alexander Bublik, Tiafoe, Jiri Lehecka, Karen Khachanov, Fabio Cobolli also made it through to the last 32 while 19-year-old Rafael Jodar completed a five-set win against fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta.
