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There’s not much between Andreeva and Bencic, so when the former makes 15-30, the sense is that this could be a big moment … for the few seconds it takes until Bencic marches inside the baseline to muscle an inside-out forehand winner into the corner. But she then then nets a forehand, meaning the first break point of the march is upon us … which is saved when Andreeva nets. To deuce we go…
At 5-4, Bencic trims a line to make 0-15, not for the first time, and she’s displeased with herself after botching a makable return. From there, Andreeva closes out her hold for 5-5, while Samsonova builds on her own, making 0-40 … and though Swiatek saves the first two break points in some style, she then whacks a forehand marginally wide, and at 3-2 we’re back on serve in the second.
Samsonova makes 40-15 but an error hands Swiatek a sniff; no matter, she sees it out to win her first game after losing seven straight. I fear that in that passage, the match was decided, but you never know.
Andreeva looks a much stronger athlete these days – she’s hitting much more powerfully inside-out and from above shoulder height. She holds for 4-4 in the first and we’ve yet to see a break point.
Back on Centre, a hold apiece means Bencic leads Andreeva 4-3 in the first; Swiatek saves that fourth break point, makes advantage, and when Samsonova clouts a forehand wide, she leads 6-2 3-0
Ach, Swiatek takes her time over her second serve and Samsonova flaps a return into the net, restoring deuce … but a backhand into the net means she’s soon back at advantage. This is much better from her.
…and it’s Swiatek’s. She lands a brute on to the baseline, the spin keeping in a ball that looked like it was going out … but Samsonova does well to attack her forehand, securing advantage and another breaking opportunity.
Bencic, who secures another hold, leads Andreeva 3-2 in the first, and she looks calm out there. Not long ago, she wasn’t on the tour at all, taking time off to have her daughter, Bella, and it’s great to see her back, loving the game.
Samsonova makes 0-30, but a 22nd unforced error invites Swiatek into the game. No matter: a big forehand earns her two break points … the first really well saved, a ball to the corner allowing the clean-up. Massive moment ion the match coming up…
Swiatek makes 0-15, then a felicitous net cord gives her 0-30; trouble for Samsonova, who responds with a double, and at this point you fear for her. Rightly so, because a second consecutive double tamely cedes the break. Swiatek leads 6-2 2-0, having won six games on the spin, and her momentum feels unstoppable.
Swiatek wins her fifth game in a row to lead 6-2 1-0 and my sense is that Samsonova is not enjoying herself. If she misses first serves, or if Swiatek returns as she did at the end of the first set, I’d not be surprised to see another break in the next game.
On Centre, Andreeva, again forced through deuce for her hold, secures it for 2-2 and this is an even contest – though at this stage, that was the case in our first match too.
Samsonova leaves the court while Andreeva forces Bencic to deuce for her hold; she sees it out comfortably, to lead 2-1 in the first. Our pattern is not yet set.
Iga Swiatek takes the first set against Liudmila Samsonova 6-2
Samsonova started well, but Swiatek gradually suffocated her. A long forehand secures a 6-2 and for the Russian, it’s a long way back from here.
Samsonova goes long on the forehand … well long … and Swiatek has set point at 5-2 advantage.
Andreeva finds herself serving at 30-all and though she raises game point, she then nets a forehand, handing Bencic deuce. From there, though, she closes out, sealing the deal with a service-winner, while Swiatek makes deuce, meaning she’s two points away from taking a one-set lead.
Swiatek consolidates for 5-2 and Samsonova, who’s played a decent set (of tennis) must now serve to stay in it.
We’re away on Centre, Bencic serving and quickly making 40-0. Andreeva does, though, announce herself with an inside-out forehand winner – it’s amazing how someone so slight is able to hit it with such venom, and in that sense, her most obvious comparator is Justine Henin. But Bencic, planted on the baseline as is her wont, quickly closes out from there.
Swiatek makes deuce on the Samsonova serve, and when the latter goes wide on the backhand, we have our first break point … converted when the Swiatek gets great length on a forehand and the riposte hits the net. Swiatek leads 4-2 in the first while, on Centre, we’re just ready to start.
We see Conchita Martinez, Andreeva’s coach taking her seat, and those two have a really lovely relationship. You can tell Andreeva isn’t the easiest – seeing them together reminds me of something Thomas Tuchel said about managing Kylian Mbappé, and that with a talent of that level, you inevitably get a lot of questions and challenges. But you can also tell that Andreeva trusts Martinez, and the improvement in her game show why.
The holds are coming pretty easily; Swiatek takes her latest service-game to 15, leading 3-2, while, on Centre, Andreeva and Bencic emerge.
Samsonova quickly makes 30-0, but another backhand return from Swiatek, dismissed inside-out and cross-court, is too good. For all the difference it makes: from there, the Russian quickly closes out the game, and we’re level at 2-2 in the first.
Samsonova doesn’t like how long Swiatek takes to serve at the start of game three, and nothing about the way she’s started suggests a willingness to let the opportunity of her life pass her by. And at 40-30, she’s well in the next rally and, though she swipes a forehand long, the sense is that we’re in for a serious, intense contest. Swiatek leads 2-1 in the first.
Samsonova’s serve is working nicely … and of course, as I type, Swiatek dismisses a backhand return down the line for 30-40. But a big delivery follows, and we’re level at 1-1 in the first.
Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool (5) beat Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten (2) 6-4 4-6 7-6(8)
That was a fantastic match, making a total nonsense of the new mixed doubles format they’re imposing in New York. The holders go out and in the semis will either face Salisbury and Skupski or Granollers and Zeballos.
Excellent start from Samsonova, a colossal inside-out forehand giving her 0-30. Swiatek, though, quickly restores parity, then a net cord means she’s down break point; an ace follows, and from there, she closes out for 1-0.
Swiatek to serve, and off we go.
I was just about to update on this, but here’s Chris Page to do it for me: “In case it’s slipped your attention, Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett, GB’s six-time men’s wheelchair doubles winners, opened their defence with a straight sets win in the first round over the Japanese/American pair of Takuya Miku and Casey Ratzleff.”
Our players are ready … and here they come.
Back with the dubs, Cash and Glasspool have just saved three match points at 5-6 in the third. It’s worth noting, though, that Patten is playing beautifully.
Mac reckons Shelton will, at some point win a major. I’d probably have lent no, but I guess given how good he already is, at 22, by the time he’s 25 he’ll be a helluva player. Other hand, he’ll not be the only one improving in that time – he’s a year younger than Sinner and ages with Alcaraz; he’ll be hoping they’re closer to the finished article than he is, an entirely fair supposition.
Back in the dubs, at 5-5 in the third, it’s mingingly tense; lovely stuff.
Also going on:
Back to the men, Sinner hurt his elbow in slipping against Dimitrov. I’m not certain it had much impact on the match, but we don’t know how it’s feeling now, and we can be sure Shelton will test it. He’s just practised for an hour, though, and we’re told he looked good and fit.
“Hi there!” begins Teresa Corujo. “Can’t wait to read about the matches today. I guess that Djokovic will lose the first set, and just as we are all saying ‘oh, there’s no hope there’ he will bounce back. The nerve. Swiatek vs Andreeva! Now that’s a match I’d love to watch.”
I know – I feel bad calling it on, because Samsonova and Bencic will have plenty to say about what happens today and women’s tennis is the world’s least predictable sport. But neither has shown much to suggest they can win this – though Bencic did win Olympic gold in Tokyo, beating Rybakina and Vondrousova in semi and final.
Email! “One writes off Djokovic at one’s own peril,” advises Krishnamoorthy V. “I am still willing to stick my neck out to Djokovic losing in four sets, clinching a third to give some hope, to only fold up.”
I wouldn’t be shocked if he loses today, but I’d be a little surprised. Cobolli has a grand total of one win over a top-1o opponent – and that was on clay over Holger Rune, who retired after a set. And, though I think he’s a top-10 talent, I’m not sure if he can rise higher than that, never mind beat the greatest of all time in his house. I can’t wait to see him try, but.
There’ve been some interesting choices made as regards which matches are on Centre today. Usually, the decision looks an obvious one, but today, I might well have picked the two which are on No 1: Swiatek has won five majors and faces a seed, whereas Andreeva has won none and does not; Sinner is the top seed and Shelton is 10th, having reached previously semis in Melbourne and New York, whereas Djokovic hasn’t won a slam since 2023 and Cobolli has never reached this stage of one. Happily, it’s a win-win situation, and we get to enjoy all four.
Badabing! Patten plays a return-game from the gods, he and Heliovaara break to win the second set 6-4, and when Cash departs to take a medical timeout, Patten wonders of the umpire whether that’s allowed as regards a pre-existing injury. The sense in comms is that once, that wasn’t permitted, but now it is – though it’s also worth noting that, though Cash has been treated for similar knack through the tournament, he did roll his ankle earlier in the match.
Word to the wise: currently on No 2 Court, we’ve got a seriously high-level men’s doubles quarter between Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara, the defending champions, and Julian Cash and Lloyd Glaspool, their respective former partners; Cash and Glaspool lead 6-4 4-5.
Preamble
Wotcha one and all and welcome to Wimbledon 2025 – day 10!
If the joy of week one is brilliant matches everywhere, all the time, tickling the part of our brain that enjoys chaos, variety and surprise, week two is all about satisfying our yen for focused immersion, specific matches at specific times that we can be certain are consequential. Week one for having fun, week two for getting it done.
Today’s selection offers us a bit of everything. We open on No 1 Court, where Iga Swiatek, on the way back following a miserable year, takes on Liudmila Samsonova, no one’s idea of a quarter-finalist two weeks ago.
In theory, Swiatek should already be a force on grass, given her eminence on clay, tennis’ other moving surface, and two majors won on hards, the surface most similar to Wimbledon’s grass. She’s comfortable with a low bounce, moves beautifully, and competes with such intensity you worry she’ll do herself a mischief. Watching seeds fall while others struggle will have convinced her that this is her time.
However even if she wins today – and that’s no gimme, given an opponent playing as well as she ever has – lurking in her half of the draw is Mirra Andreeva, at 19 somehow both fully-formed and still improving. She takes on Belinda Bencic in our opening match on Centre and, for the first time, her belief that she can lift this title, this year, is as palpable as her her certainty that she’ll get to it at some point.
Meantime, in the men’s competition, Jannik Sinner returns after his narrow escape against Griggzy Dimitrov. It’s not that he was two sets down when fortune intervened on his behalf, rather there was no sense he was likely to come back – the match was being taken from him and he looked powerless to respond.
The question now, then, is whether his brush with unexpected fallibility affects his confidence, or sends him in into the last eight with the lightness of a man reprieved. Ben Shelton, though, could care less* either way. He’s growing into the tournament beautifully, his creativity, unpredictability and competitive charisma the inverse of Sinner’s dependable, mechanical clean lines – the battle is classic lefty v righty and, for the first time, he looks ready for it.
Finally, the fantastic Flavio Cobolli takes on Novak Djokovic. If Djokovic plays as he did against Dan Evans and Miomir Kecmanovic, it’s hard to see Cobolli beating him because it’s hard to see anyone beating him, but if he produces the form we saw in his last match, against Alex de Minaur, he is vulnerable.
And make no mistake, Cobolli has what it takes to take advantage, absurdly quick, powerful enough, and absolutely loads of fun; he doesn’t yet know he can win, but we can be sure he’s not expecting to lose. This is going to be great.
Play: 1am BST No1 Court, 1.30pm BST Centre Court.
*couldn’t care less
