Jannik Sinner managed a quick win after going five sets in his Wimbledon opener, with the top seed dispatching Nuno Borges 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-4 on Wednesday to reach the third round.

The defending champion needed just over two and a half hours to move through after a Monday opening victory which took an hour longer.

The Italian earned his 21st victory at the event as he played in front of the Ryder Cup team with Rory McIlroy looking on from the Royal Box while wearing his green Masters champion jacket..

“I’m happy. The second set was very tough; it felt like the first couple of sets we were serving very well so there were not a lot of exchanges,” Sinner said.

“But overall these kinds of matches when you don’t have a lot of control. I’m very happy to win, especially on this surface.” 

Sinner advanced with 47 winners and 29 unforced errors as Borges played a No. 1 for the first time.

“Second match on grass, I was not looking for perfection. I tried to improve. Felt like at times I did.”

The holder now takes on Jenson Brooksby, who defeated Ignacio Buse 6-2, 6-2, 6-3. The American winner called the Sinner match “probably one of the toughest challenges right now in tennis.”

No. 8 Daniil Medvedev, a two-time semi-finalist, reached the round of 32 as he defeated Spaniard Daniel Merida Aguiler 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2.

Tommy Paul called upon his natural grasscourt prowess to take out Kwon Soonwoo, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2, and now faces Hubert Hurkacz, who beat Austria’s Sebastien Ofner in straight sets.

The Pole, who is reconstructing his career after a knee injury, fired 16 aces and saved six of seven break points in his win.

“Third round at Wimbledon is exciting no matter who you’re playing,” Paul said. “We all know Hubi can play some awesome tennis on grass, and it seems like he’s finding his form here this week. Should be a really exciting match.”

Roland Garros finalist Flavio Cobolli saved six set points to complete a 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (8) win over Argentine Mariano Navone in a first-round match delayed overnight by darkness.

“It’s not easy to come back and play the next day,” the Italian winner said. “it’s the first time that I did it, and I think I managed very well.”

Mallorca tournament winner Alejandro Davidovich Fokina came back for more a week after beating Fabian Marozsan. 

“The Spaniard earned a 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 second-round win and now plays Marton . Fucsovics, who beat Learner Tien 6-7.(6), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-3.

Qualifier Otto Virtanen sent fourth seed Ben Shelton his earliest-ever loss at Wimbledon as the Finn worked for nearly four and a half hours to advance 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (8), 6-2, 7-6 (9) on Tuesday.

French Open champion Alexander Zverev polished off a love tiebreaker  with a 21st ace to convert on the first of six match points in a 6-4, 6-7 (8), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (0) defeat of rising Belgian Alexander Blockx.

The German second seed earned his third win of the season over the youngster, who is now top 30 after starting 2026 outside the top 100.

Zverev, who has exited here twice in the first round, is hoping to set a personal best on the London grass.

“I hope to have the best result of my career (here),” the 29-year-old winner said. “But I struggle on grass for some reason.

“It’s still the biggest honour in tennis to play on this (Centre) court.”

He added: “Having (the Roland Garros title) in the back of your head really helps. I believe I can play well on this surface and I’m very happy about that.”

No. 140 Virtanen stunned Shelton in what the American called “one of the toughest losses I’ve taken for sure”

The Scandinavian winner who missed the event a year ago with injury and is only now establishing rhythm in his schedule, saved a match point in the fifth-set tiebreaker.

He finished off the upset as Shelton sent a forehand return wide down the line on match point.

“I don’t know if I have a heart left, it may have jumped out of my body,” the winner said.

“This is the biggest win of my career. I’ve had a great month on grass (finals in two English Challengers).

“It feels so good to be back, I missed not playing her last year when I was injured. Now I’ve got a big win on a big court in one of my favourite places.

“I’ve been playing well for a month, I feel healthy, I’m sure more results will come.”

Shelton was still processing the heavy defeat.

“I didn’t even think I played a poor match today. Things just didn’t go my way.

“But I’m going to treat this as any other tournament and I’ll be right back on the practice courts in a couple of days.”

Fifth seed Alex de Minaur shrugged off a slow start ro defeat Roman Andres Burruchaga 7-6 (5), 6-1, 6-0 as he picked up pace in the final two ses.

The Australian reached the second round for the seventh time in eight appearances with his victory in two hours over the No. 65 Argentine.

 “It was a little bit of a slow, nervy start. Roman lifted his level and the first set was a battle. I had a slow start, and then I got back into it. From then on it was pretty tight.

“It could have gone either way. (After the first set)  I was able to kind of free up and take it to that next level, next gear. I played a really confident second and third set, which I was really proud of.”

Sixth-seeded Taylor Fritz walked onto court wearing a white suit from his clothing sponsor, defeating Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 after the lucky loser replaced injured Brit Jack Draper in the draw. 

French hope Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard failed to capitalise on an early lead, taking a loss to Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann (6-7 (6), 7-6 (9), 6-2, 6-3.

Another home player fell, with Jack Pinnington Jones going out to Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 7-6 (5), 7-5.

He was joined by debutant compatriot Harry Wendelken, who lost to France’s Valetin Royer 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

French-born adopted Brit saved the day with his 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 fightback over Damir Dzumhur.

Local Jakob Ferrnley joined in, advancing past Alex Michelsen in a battle from two sets to love down 3-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

Novak Djokovic wants a serious re-think of a bloated tennis calendar, with the 24-time Grand Slam champion suggesting cutting back on the extended Masters 1000 events currently  clogging the ATP Tour..

The 39-year-old made the plea after fighting into the second round at Wimbledon, defeating China’s Wu Yibing in four sets as the tournament curfew approached Monday night.

Djokovic got in before the 11 p.m. witching hour, instigated in 2009 to give local residents in this posh, tree-shaded suburb their nighty rest.

But the energetic winner launched his call for reform after midnight, saying something had to give on the Tours due to an outbreak of player injuries – many due to overplaying.

World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz is missing the tournament after injuring his writ last April with a possible late summer return date being floated.

With all but two of the ATP Masters events now stretching to nearly a fortnight from their former seven-day classic format, the seven-time Wimbledon winner knew exactly where to point the finger.

“Tennis really needs a reset on a bigger level. Our Tours respectively are not
functioning well at all,” Djokovic said.

“A lot of things happening backstage, meetings, relationships are not going in the right direction.”

The last of the iconic Big 3 players from the past two decades added: “Grand Slams are the pillars. Grand Slams are always going to be Grand Slams, the most important tournaments we have in our sport.”

Due to the Balkanisation of tennis into several ruling camps – ATP, WTA, the Grand Slam Committee, the four majors, London’s World Tennis federation – achieving any kind of coherent change is a huge ask.

Djokovic helped form the player Organisation PTPA, which basically fizzled out and is now involved in legal actions against the Tour and Grand Slams over calendar reform and prize money distribution.

Lawyers have become the main benefactors of the squabble while progress on the issues remains a mirage. 

Veteran Djokovic, who can pick and choose his events, has stepped away from the fracus and now sits on the political sidelines.

Player discontent with back-to-back Masters events which stretch almost as long as Grand Slams is growing stronger while chronic injury absences are on the rise.

“The Tours have to look into the formats, rules, calendar – there are a lot of complaints,” he said. “I feel we are trying to Band-Aid on everything. Trying to fix something,…

“What we have to do if we want this sport to really improve ..in the next decades, is – with all the key players – see what we can do.

“There is a lot more conflict within the governing bodies of our sport than there is unity.”

Djokovic said possible solutions include attracting a younger audience – current average 61 years – by presenting a more rapid-fire, modern product.

“Young people are not going to sit for four hours and five hours and watch tennis every day. It’s a short attention span. We have to see what the market is about. How do we get to them?

“We have to change the format, the Tours, have the tournaments have shorter matches, more dynamic, be able to have something more interesting and
shorter length ’cause this is too long.”

But the veteran would leave the four majors to play their classic best-of-five-set format for men while modifying the day-to-day ATP events.