Alejandro Davidovich Fokina was almost made to pay for his wastefulness as he tried to showboat on match point, and things really went awry for him.
The Spaniard was making his fourth appearance at Wimbledon in the senior level (and second in the main draw) and was chasing his first win there. It looked to be a routine straight sets victory when he led former semifinalist Hubert Hurkacz 7-6, 6-4, 5-3, 40-0.
One point was all he needed, and on his first match point, he played a tweener from the baseline after Hurkacz responded with a solid return of serve. It went horribly wrong as he dumped the unspectacular shot into the net.
Last year, Davidovich Fokina led 2-0 and 4-2 in the tie-break of the third set in his maiden Wimbledon main draw appearance against Denis Kudla. Yet, the former Wimbledon boys' champion lost the match and was made to wait for his victory on the pristine grass.
The pendulum swung in Hurkacz's favor. He won the next seven points, including a break of serve that allowed him to get back into the match. The Pole quickly leveled the set score to 5-5 before the match was stopped by rain.
After the rain break, Hurkacz won the next two sets and was broken up in the fifth set. But Davidovich Fokina somehow restored his composure and resilience to turn the match around and won in a deciding set tie-break 10-8.
It was a statement win from Davidovich Fokina against a player who obliterated Roger Federer last year. More importantly, he will not be remembered as the man who squandered three match points in a reckless moment of shotmaking.
"It means a lot. I had a lot of matches that I played against top 10 which I did not win. Here, on grass, I have proved that I can beat anyone. I don’t know how I won this match. I am so happy with the win today because I was struggling so much … but it gives me so much confidence (in) myself and I am so happy."
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