Key events
Good afternoon, you join me as the Centre Court beckons for world No. 1 Jannik Sinner. He’s never been past the semis here, and takes on Spain’s Pedro Martinez. It’s been a mixed year for the Italian: bans, bustups, a Slam and a losing five-setter in a Slam final.
Attention turns to Centre Court, where the BBC’s Clare Balding introduces the great and the good from British sport who are seated today in the royal box, as is tradition on middle Saturday.
There’s cricket’s Andrew Strauss and Ian Botham, athletes Alex Yee, Denise Lewis and Kelly Holmes, football’s Graeme Souness, Fran Kirby and Geoff Hurst, Paralympic legend Sarah Storey, rugby’s Brian O’Driscoll, racing’s AP McCoy, sailing’s Ben Ainslie, rowing’s Steve Redgrave, cycling’s Paddy and Laura Kenny, and a host of British medallists from Paris 2024 among others. And Billie Jean King, of course.
Sinner and Martínez are about to make their way out. I will hand over to the esteemed John Brewin to take you through the afternoon.
Baptiste holds this time. Frances Tiafoe is supporting her from the player’s box. His brother Franklin is part of Baptiste’s coaching team, and the two families have known each other for a long time. 2-1
Andreeva motors to 40-15 on her serve and closes out the game with a drop shot and volley. 2-0
Play on the show courts
We are up and running on No 1 Court. Baptiste loses her serve in the opening game as Andreeva wins the second break point.
The covers remain on the outside courts. Still no play until at least 1.30pm BST there. It might just be brightening up?
Over on Centre Court at 1.30pm BST, it’s Jannik Sinner against the world No 52 Pedro Martínez, who is making his fourth appearance at Wimbledon with his best result a run to round three on his debut in 2021. Sinner, of course, yet to win here, reaching at least the quarters in each of the last three years.
Louise, a self-proclaimed Sinner expert, writes in:
Probably he’ll win in three today. Tough match v Novak in the semis as I think both will get there. Unless Carlos fails to keep focus up he should make the final, where he would be the favourite on grass v Sinner but maybe another high-level final
Andreeva’s opponent today is Hailey Baptiste, the 23-year-old world No 55. This year is her first appearance in the main draw at Wimbledon, knocking out Sorana Cirstea and Victoria Mboko on her way to round three.
She enjoyed a run to the fourth round at Roland Garros – her best performance at a slam – earlier in the summer, beating the likes of Beatriz Haddad Maia and Jéssica Bouzas Maneiro.
Let’s build up to the first match on No 1 Court, where Mirra Andreeva faces Hailey Baptiste. Andreeva burst on to the scene aged 16 at Wimbledon in 2023 when she beat Wang Xiyu, Barbora Krejcikova and Anastasia Potapova to reach the fourth round.
It took an almighty comeback from Madison Keys to stop the teenager in her tracks, coming from 3-6 1-4 down to win in three sets. Andreeva has since established herself as one of the best on the women’s tour, now ranked seventh in the world. She reached the quarter-finals of the French Open this year, losing out to the French wildcard Loïs Boisson, and claimed titles in Dubai and at Indian Wells – beating Aryna Sabalenka in the final in California.
This is a far cry from the start of this week.
The rain keeps coming down. There will now be no more play on the outside courts until 1.30pm BST. Mirra Andreeva and Hailey Baptiste get under way under the roof of No 1 Court at 1pm, at least.
While we wait, let me delve into my reserves of Wimbledon anecdotes and pick one out from middle Saturday in 2012. Five hours and 31 minutes I sat on Court 2 watching Jack Draper’s conqueror, Marin Cilic, drag out a five-set epic against Sam Querrey in the third round.
In the end it was 7-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 17-15 to the Croatian – the second longest match in Wimbledon history. The umpire, Mohamed Lahyani, had also been in the chair for that Isner v Mahut marathon two years earlier.
It was all fun and games until we realised the late doubles match involving the Williams sisters would have to be moved to another court.
There will be no play for at least another half an hour at the All England Club. Those that have stayed in their seats on the outside courts are huddled under their brollies. Always worth taking one.
Kasatkina might welcome this break in play after losing yet more ground on Samsonova, who broke her serve to lead 2-0 in the second set. Rybakina and Tauson were still level at 4-4 when play was suspended. Yastremska, meanwhile, was fighting back against Bouzas Maneiro to lead the second set 3-0.
The covers come on
Play has been suspended on the outside courts as the rain starts to come down in SW19. A member of the groundstaff takes a tumble as they drag the covers over on Court 2. The roofs have been on the show courts since the start of the day. After the barmy weather of the first few days, normality has somewhat resumed.
Samsonova has taken the first set 6-2 against Kasatkina on Court 3. As has Flavio Cobolli against Jakub Mensik on Court 12. Here are the latest singles scores from around the grounds:
Court 2: Tauson v Rybakina 3-3*
Court 3: Kasatkina v Samsonova 2-6 0*-1
Court 12: Cobolli v Mensik 6-2 0-0*
Court 16: Bouzas Maneiro v Yastremska 6-1 0-1*
Court 18: Bencic v Cocciaretto 5*-4
The 2022 champion Elina Rybakina has flown under the radar in the first week this year, knocking out the unseeded pair of Elina Avanesyan and Maria Sakkari with little fuss – dropping just seven games across four sets.
Out on No 2 Court, Rybakina is locked at 3-3 against the 23rd seed, Clara Tauson, in the first set
Of the early matches on the outside courts, there is particular interest in the matchup between Daria Kasatkina and Liudmila Samsonova on No 3 Court.
Kasatkina, the 16th seed, switched her allegiance from Russia to Australia earlier this year after being critical of her native country’s invasion of Ukraine and the lack of LGBTQ+ rights back home.
The No 19 seed, Samsonova chose to represent Russia – where she was born – in 2018 after growing up in Italy. She is now competing as a neutral athlete on the tour. Samsonova is a break up serve up at 4-2 in the first set.
Despite Raducanu’s exit, there remains home interest in the women’s draw after Sonay Kartal’s impressive form continued yesterday with a straight-sets win against Diane Parry.
She’ll face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the fourth round tomorrow but is in action again today, teaming up with Jodie Burrage in the doubles. The British pair are second up on Court 16 against the 11th seeds, Beatriz Haddad Maia and Laura Siegmund, in round two.
If you missed the sporting theatre of Aryna Sabalenka against Emma Raducanu on Centre Court last night, with the British No 1 giving the tournament favourite a run for her money, then Jonathan Liew was there to capture the moment
Preamble
Hello and welcome to middle Saturday at Wimbledon, where the third round of the men’s and women’s singles draws enters its second day. We’ll have Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, Iga Swiatek and the like all on court as the day progresses. As an SW19 native I can confirm that the weather has been overcast and pretty blustery with a bit of drizzle in the air. Nonetheless, the queue was already snaking right across Wimbledon Park early this morning on what is traditionally the busiest day of the championships.
The world No 1, Jannik Sinner, gets us under way on Centre against Spain’s Pedro Martínez, while teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva opens up on No 1 Court against Hailey Baptiste of the United States.
Here are today’s main-draw singles matches:
Centre Court (1.30pm BST start)
Jannik Sinner (It, 1) v Pedro Martínez (Sp)
Iga Swiatek (Pol, 8) v Danielle Collins (US)
Miomir Kecmanovic (Ser) v Novak Djokovic (Ser, 6)
No 1 Court (1pm BST start)
Mirra Andreeva (7) v Hailey Baptiste (US)
Barbora Krejcikova (Cz, 17) v Emma Navarro (US, 10)
Ben Shelton (US, 10) v Marton Fucsovics (Hun)
No 2 Court (11am BST start)
Clara Tauson (Den, 23) v Elena Rybakina (Kaz, 11)
Alex de Minaur (Aus, 11) v August Holmgren (Den)
No 3 Court (11am BST start)
Daria Kasatkina (Aus, 16) v Liudmila Samsonova (19)
Grigor Dimitrov (Bul, 19) v Sebastian Ofner (Aut)
Court 12 (11am BST start)
Flavio Cobolli (It, 22) v Jakub Mensik (Cz, 15)
Zeynep Sonmez (Tur) v Ekaterina Alexandrova (18)
Court 16 (11am BST start)
Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (Sp) v Dayana Yastremska (Ukr)
Court 18 (11am BST start)
Belinda Bencic (Swi) v Elisabetta Cocciaretto (It)
Marin Cilic (Cro) v Jaume Munar (Sp)
Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions on the day’s play by emailing in here
