Berrettini and Sonego join Sinner in Wimbledon third round, Grant exits

Five Italians took the grass courts at the All England Club on Thursday, hunting a place in the third round. By late afternoon, two had succeeded and one promising teenager had fallen short, with two more still battling into the evening.

Men’s second round

On Court 14, Lorenzo Sonego once again delivered a marathon. The world No. 69 outlasted Canada’s Gabriel Diallo in a draining five-setter that stretched beyond four and a half hours. The final score – 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-7(6), 6-2 – confirmed Sonego’s reputation as a fifth-set specialist. He now faces American Taylor Fritz in the next round.

Later, on Centre Court, Matteo Berrettini showed the form that took him to the 2021 final. The Roman dispatched France’s Arthur Fils 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in under three hours. After a gruelling first-round win over Stan Wawrinka, Berrettini’s cleaner victory sets up a meeting with either Jakub Menšík or Grigor Dimitrov.

Jannik Sinner had already booked his third-round spot earlier in the week and returns to action on Friday against Jenson Brooksby.

Women’s second round

Tyra Caterina Grant, the 18-year-old qualifier who stunned Katie Boulter in the first round, could not repeat the heroics. Czech world No. 21 Marie Bouzkova proved too steady, prevailing in two sets. Grant was candid afterward.

I started well, I knew how to play, what to do and everything was working quite well. Then I think the serve started to penalise me a bit. In the end it was a good tournament with a lot of positives to take home, but it’s hard to go away with a defeat like that.

Jasmine Paolini, the world No. 17, was scheduled to play Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic in the evening session on Court 2. At the time of writing, that match was still in progress, as was Flavio Cobolli’s contest against Australia’s James Duckworth on Court 3. Cobolli led two sets to one.

What’s next

All Italian eyes now turn to Sinner’s third-round match on Friday, while Berrettini and Sonego await their next opponents. Paolini and Cobolli will try to complete the full set of five Italians reaching the last 32 later tonight.