Wimbledon 2026 Men’s Day 2

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.