Arthur Fils has broken new ground at Wimbledon but he did so in unfortunate circumstances. 

The 20-year-old Frenchman is through to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career after his opponent Hubert Hurkacz was forced to call it quits. Fils was leading the match 7-6, 6-4, 2-6, 6-6, when his Polish opponent took a tumble on the ground and suffered what appeared to be a knee injury. As a result, Hurkacz had to retire from the match which is something he hasn’t done since the 2021 Italian Open. 

“It was the first time I had this situation, so I didn’t really know how to handle it,” Fils commented during his press conference.
“I think that I did pretty good. I didn’t know if I had to do one kick serve and just make him play.
“Hallelujah, I passed the first serve. I mean, I played two great points because it wasn’t that easy. Then he stopped. Of course, it’s a sad end, but I’m happy about how I deal with those two points.”

When Hurkacz suffered his fall, he went over the net to check on his peer and help him get back up. 

“I saw a friend. He was in pain and he couldn’t move. I didn’t care about the score. I was just hoping that the guy is well and he can still walk and everything.” Fils commented. 

Fils, who beat Switzerland’s Dominic Stricker in his opening match, is the youngest Frenchman to reach the last 32 at Wimbledon since Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils in 2005. His breakthrough comes during what has been an encouraging season where he reached the semi-finals in Auckland the quarter-finals at four other events. Last year he recorded wins over top 10 players Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas. 

Whilst he is heading in the right direction, Fils admits there is plenty of room for improvement in his game. Especiallywhen it comes to the grass.

“It’s only my second year on grass. Okay, I’m playing better than last year, but I still have so much to improve.” He said. 
“Sometimes my movement, I don’t know how to move on it (the grass). I don’t know if I’m too powerful but I’m always slipping.”

Fils will play Roman Safiullin in the next round. 

Danil Medvedev rallied from a set a break down to beat Alexander Muller 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 7-5 on Centre Court at Wimbledon. 

Both players were not able to break in the first set, which went on serve en route to the tie-break. Muller rallied from 0-2 down to win the tie-break 7-3 with three mini-breaks. 

Muller raced out to a a 3-0 lead in the second set. Medvedev broke back in the fifth game and held serve to 3-3. Muller earned two set points at 5-4 and 6-5, but Medvedev held his service games. Medvedev came back from 0-3 down to win the win the tie-break 7-4 with two mini-breaks.  

Medvedev went up a 4-1 lead in the third set. Muller pulled back on serve to draw level to 4-4. The Frenchman won his fifth consecutive game with a second break to close out the third set 6-4.

Both players went on serve in the fourth game until the 12^th game when Medvedev earned the decisive break, when Muller made a double fault on the match point. 

“I did not play my best match. For whatever reason it feels much slower. Really slow bounce, not like a grass court where it normally slides. I need to get used to it. The more matches I play on it, the more chances I have to play better and better”, said Medvedev. 

Underdog Sonay Kartal has recorded one of the biggest victories of her career after defeating a player ranked more than 200 places higher than her to reach the third round. 

Kartal, who had to come through three rounds of qualifying to make the main draw, produced a shock 6-3, 5-7, 6-3, win over top 50 player Clara Burel. The 22-year-old is making only her third appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam event and had never won a match until this week. Against Burel, she weathered the storm before going on to win five out of the last six games played. 

“Today is a really special day for me. To have people out there who have been with me since I was six. Monday was a high and now I have topped that today,” the Brit said afterwards.

“I just tried to put everything behind me. When I needed the crowd the most they helped me in that third set. I owe that to you guys today.”

It is only the second time in the Open era that a British woman has reached the third round of Wimbledon as a qualifier. The first to do so was Karen Cross in 1997. 

Kartel has shown glimpses of her talent already this season but on the lower-level ITF Tour where she has won a trio of W35 titles. However, she has also been affected by injury during her career, as well as a health scare earlier this season.

“I had a tough start to the year, I didn’t know what I would be doing this year,” Kartel reflected.  
“To come back in and go straight into the deep end, and have my biggest wins so far since recovering, I’m super proud of that.”

Her reward will be a showdown against second seed Coco Gauff in the next round, who won her latest match in straight sets. She has defeated only two top 50 players but both of those were in this tournament. However, facing the reigning US Open champion will be another level. 

“It’s going to be a tough match, it’s going to be a fun match and I hope I can do the British crowd proud.” She admits. 

Meanwhile, Gauff is not underestimating her upcoming opponent when they lock horns on Friday. 

“It will be tough to face a Brit, especially on grass. I think that they always do well, but especially in this environment.” She said.