Beginning play on Centre Court today was Brandon Nakashima from the United States who made the quarter finals here last year, and Ignacio Buse from Peru making his debut on this court. As is the case for a lot of South American players, Buse is not very familiar with grass court tennis, and at only 22 can definitely learn a lot on the surface. Meanwhile, Brandon Nakashima is a player that certainly enjoys the grass court swing. A double break in the first set saw the American pull away to a 6-2 lead. In the second set the young Peruvian took the lead with an early break. Nakashima quickly countered this though and was back in the driving seat when he broke again to go 4-2. When serving to stay in the match, Buse once again wasn’t able to hold against his opponent. Nakashima won 6-2, 6-2 looking very comfortable on the grass.
The next match involved 2023 Queen’s finalist Alex de Minaur against Denis Shapovalov from Canada. These two played each other ten years ago in the Junior Wimbledon final and are two players that know each other well. De Minaur certainly lifted his level today compared to his first round match, you could see he is getting well adjusted to the grass now. The Australian only needed the one break of serve in the first set to go on and win what was a fairly even contest 6-4. Shapovalov was serving and contending well in the match until de Minaur broke his serve again in the second set. Quite clearly Denis Shapovalov’s head dropped as he fell further behind. The number one seed got three breaks of serve in the second set to win it 6-1. Four double faults from the Canadian demonstrates his level as the set progressed.
The third match of the day involved the French veteran Adrian Mannarino and British wildcard Arthur Ferry (who also happens to be the son of a Queen’s Club Member!). Ferry took the first set 7-6, just edging the tie break 9-7. There were two breaks of serve in the first set but both players looked generally strong in their service games. In the second set, it was just one break of serve that was needed for Fery to complete a straight sets victory 7-6, 6-4. Fery progresses to his first ATP level quarter-final and will surely have the full support of the home crowd.
Up last on Centre Court we had Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo against American Jacob Brooksby. The Argentine raced ahead in the first set and won it 6-0, encountering very little difficulty. At 2-0 down in the second set it was looking like it might be a particularly bleak afternoon for Brooksby. He finally got himself on the scoreboard to go 2-1 and being only one break down he had to demonstrate some belief. The American certainly did that when he rescued one break of serve and followed it up with a hold to get himself to 4-5. Cerundolo then stepped up to serve for the match for a second time. It wasn’t looking particularly comfortable at 0-30 but after a slight stutter he managed to finish the job 6-0, 6-4.
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