WIMBLEDON, England — Let the file mirror that the rain-logged first spherical of Wimbledon 2023 lastly concluded at 3:23 p.m. native time on Thursday, Day 4 of the event, 48 hours later than initially deliberate, when Alexander Zverev completed off his 6-4, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) victory over Dutch qualifier Gijs Brouwer.

Zverev was supposed to begin and, naturally, end, on Tuesday. Instead, he didn’t take the courtroom to play his first level of the fortnight till about 17 1/2 hours after Novak Djokovic already had made his approach into the third spherical.

“Took me three days,” Zverev joked, “but I’m here.”

For as soon as this week, the solar was out at the All England Club, and the showers have been nowhere to be discovered.

Instead, there was loads of play, loads of outcomes — 56 in all — and loads of drama, maybe none greater than in a single much-hyped showdown that didn't conclude: Two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray vs. two-time main finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas was suspended at 10:40 p.m. and can resume Friday.

Played with the roof closed at a loud Centre Court full of “Let’s go, Andy! Let’s go!” chants from followers, that one was stopped simply after Murray took a two-sets-to-one lead. Tsitsipas took the opening set 7-6 (3), however Murray took the following two 7-6 (2), 6-4. Murray, 36 and with a synthetic hip, slipped and fell behind a baseline however arose and completed that third set simply earlier than play was halted.

There have been tears for Alizé Cornet, who slipped to the turf and harm her leg at 5-all within the second set of what would turn into a 6-2, 7-6 (2) loss to defending champion Elena Rybakina.

There have been tears for Donna Vekic, too, and she or he gained. She got here again from a set and 5-2 down within the second to get rid of 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens.

“I was losing,” Vekic mentioned later. “Not that I was just losing — I felt like I was getting killed.”

There was realism for Stan Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam champion who's now 38, coming off years of accidents and operations, and, whereas he was happy to defeat Tomás Martín Etcheverry 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, is aware of what comes subsequent: a matchup in opposition to Djokovic, who has gained seven of his males’s-record 23 main championships at this occasion.

“There’s zero opportunity to win Wimbledon for me, I think,” Wawrinka acknowledged.

“It’s an honor to play Novak here. … Hopefully I can make a competitive match,” he continued, “but if you will look at recent results, I don’t really stand a chance.”

There was new floor for a gaggle of males who gained to succeed in the third spherical on the All England Club for the primary time: No. 14 seed Lorenzo Musetti, qualifier Maximillian Marterer, Mikael Ymer, Quentin Halys and Roman Safiullin.

Ymer got here again from a two-set deficit to knock off No. 9 Taylor Fritz of the U.S. 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

Two American males caught round for the following spherical by successful: No. 10 Frances Tiafoe, a semifinalist on the U.S. Open final September, and No. 16 Tommy Paul, a semifinalist on the Australian Open in January.

They have been joined within the third spherical by two American ladies, No. 4 Jessica Pegula and 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin.

There was acquainted disappointment on the grass-court main event for Casper Ruud, who was the runner-up at three of the previous 5 majors however misplaced to British wild-card Liam Broady on Centre Court 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0. Ruud has by no means been previous the second spherical in 4 appearances at Wimbledon.

“I’m going to keep trying. I have a goal, of course, in my career to try to do well here at some point,” mentioned Ruud, who was seeded No. 4 within the males’s bracket. “It didn’t happen this year. I’ll come back. I honestly love coming here. It’s such a special place.”

There was the top of the road for Anett Kontaveit. She was the final participant to lose to Serena Williams — on the U.S. Open final yr whereas ranked No. 2 — and mentioned earlier than Wimbledon she can be retiring due to a persistent dangerous again.

And there was the most recent signal of promise from Mirra Andreeva, a 16-year-old qualifier from Russia.

Andreeva made her approach into the third spherical on the second consecutive main when 2021 French Open singles and doubles champion Barbora Krejcikova give up as a result of she was harm whereas trailing 6-3, 4-0.

“For sure, it’s not the way I wanted to win the match,” Andreeva mentioned. “But still, I advance to the next round, so I’m happy with that.”

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