No. 9 seed Taylor Fritz was among a group of Americans ousted at Wimbledon on Thursday, falling in five sets to Sweden’s Mikael Ymer in the second round. Here’s what you need to know:
- Ymer rallied from two sets down to defeat Fritz by a score of 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
- Fritz, 25, was the top-ranked American men’s player at Wimbledon this year.
- American women Sloane Stephens and Danielle Collins also lost their second-round matches to No. 20 Donna Vekic and No. 14 Belinda Bencic, respectively.
- Frances Tiafoe, the American No. 10 seed, defeated Dominic Stricker in straight sets (7-6 (11), 6-4, 6-2) Thursday to advance to the third round.
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
Tough fall for Fritz
This will be a really painful loss for Fritz, who reached the quarterfinals here last year and came into the tournament as the top-ranked American player and the No. 9 in the world.
At two sets to love up, no one would have seen this coming but after only completing his five-set rain-interrupted first round yesterday, Fritz had nothing left by the end.
And should Tiafoe have a good run here then Fritz will lose his American No. 1 status by the end of the tournament. — Eccleshare
Backstory
Ymer, 24, rallied past Fritz to advance to his first-ever third-round appearance at Wimbledon. The Swede entered this year’s tournament ranked No. 59 in the world. His next opponent will be Colombia’s Daniel Elahi Galan.
Fritz, who lost in last year’s Wimbledon quarterfinals to Rafael Nadal, has now failed to advance past the third round in each of his last three Grand Slam appearances. He was ousted at this year’s Australian Open in the second round at the hands of Australia’s Alexei Popyrin and at the 2023 French Open by Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo.
Stephens, who last reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2013, lost in three sets to Vekic (4-6, 7-5, 6-4). Collins, a 2022 Australian Open finalist, took Bencic to a third-set tiebreak, but ultimately fell 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2).
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(Photo: Adrian Dennis / AFP via Getty Images)
