By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) – Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas is proving as durable as the Parthenon at this year’s Wimbledon after reaching the second week still very much standing after victory over Serbia’s Laslo Djere on Saturday.
A day after throwing cold water over British hopes by out-lasting Andy Murray in a five-set cliffhanger spanning two days on Centre Court, he returned to dispatch Serbia’s Djere in more straightforward fashion, winning 6-4 7-6(5) 6-4.
The 24-year-old’s energy levels looked undiminished despite it being his fifth successive day on court, a shift that began with a first-round five-setter against former U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem — a match that took two days to complete.
His clash with Murray, where he battled the two-time Wimbledon champion and the 15,000 fans for nearly five hours, was the longest match in the tournament so far.
He has spent eight hours and 46 minutes on court and a more relaxing Sunday is well-earned.
After that he will focus on his fourth round match against unseeded American Christopher Eubanks who continued his impressive run on grass with victory over Christopher O’Connell on Saturday.
Tsitsipas pocketed the first set when Djere faltered serving at 4-5, double-faulting on set point.
He found himself a break down in the second set but once he repaired that damage and took the tiebreak it was relatively smooth for the elegant Greek shot-maker.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Davis)
