On Thursday, July 4, the final matches of the second round of singles were played at Wimbledon. The men’s match was played on that day by the world number 44, Roman Safiullin, quarter-finalist of the tournament last year. His opponent in the 1/32 finals was the Czech Tomas Machac, number 39 in the ATP rankings.
In the first round, both Safiullin and Makhach defeated their opponents in just five sets, and due to rain, both matches lasted two days. The similarities do not end there. The Russians and the Czechs both scored very convincing victories. Roman defeated the Argentine number 26, Francisco Serundolo (6:7, 3:6, 7:5, 6:3, 6:4), and Tomas defeated the former seventh and now number 83 in the world ranking, David Goffin, by 3:6, 3:6, 6:4, 6:1, 7:6.
The score in personal encounters was 2-1 in favor of Safiullin, including 1-0 in the main draws of ATP tournaments. Roman beat Tomas in the second round of Marseille 2022, where both started from qualification by 6:7 (6:8), 6:4, 7:6 (7:4). And in 2018 they exchanged fairly easy victories in clay futures in the Czech Republic.
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In the first set, Safiullin acted from a position of strength and deservedly achieved success. In the first games, the Russian had minor problems with his serve – he even had to save a break point – but in the second half of the game he no longer gave Makhach any chance. He failed twice on his serve and Roman quickly won the set 6-2 in just 31 minutes. In terms of actively won points, he twice outplayed his opponent (16 to eight), although he made slightly more unforced errors (10 to seven).
The second set turned out to be divided into two logical halves. At first Makhach dominated, and then Safiullin took the initiative. In the third game, Tomas made a break and then easily confirmed it: 3-1. However, after 4-2, the Czechs started making mistakes and lost four games in a row and, therefore, the whole set. In the tenth game, Roman took the match from the first set point: 6:4 in 37 minutes.
Tomas Machac at Wimbledon 2024
Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
In the third set, the rivals reached 4:4 with two breaks each. After that, Safiullin served to love and in the tenth game he had two chances to finish the match, but he did not use these match points. In the first, Makhach scored a point with the winners, and in the second, Roman made a mistake. After that, the Russian became nervous, and in the eleventh game the Czech got a break, and in the twelfth he served to win the game – 7:5 in 46 minutes.
Safiullin started the fourth set with eight consecutive points won for 2:0. Makhach immediately responded with a break, but in the sixth game the Russian took his serve back due to his opponent’s errors for 4:2. Serving for the match with the score 5:3, Roman double-faulted at the beginning of the game, but after 15:15 he left no chance for Tomas – 6:2, 6:4, 5:7, 6:3 in 2 hours 36 minutes.
In the third round, Safiullin will play against 20-year-old Frenchman Arthur Fis, the world number 34. Fiss beat Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz (7) after retiring due to injury in the fourth set.
“I am very sorry for Hubert Hurkacz. Judging by what we have seen in the last few minutes, he seems to be in a serious condition… He can barely walk,” journalist Mario Boccardi commented on the Pole’s injury on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
The first Russian player, Daria Kasatkina, seeded 14th, took to the court with the Japanese-born Briton Yuriko Miyazaki, seeded 148th in the world. In the first round, Kasatkina and Miyazaki both secured wins. Kasatkina pinned Zhang Shuai (6:3, 6:0), and Miyazaki no less convincingly beat Tamara Korpach (6:2, 6:1).
Daria was the clear favorite to face Yuriko. But, of course, no one expected two “shuttlecocks” in 50 minutes. Kasatkina played very well, and Miyazaki made an incredible number of errors in a relatively short period: 31 unforced errors in 12 games. For the first time at the WTA level, the Russian won the match 6-0, 6-0. Daria became the first tennis player in nine years to put two pins on her opponent at Wimbledon. In 2015, two athletes achieved a similar feat: Venus Williams (against Madison Brengle) and Andrea Petkovic (against Shelby Rogers).
In the third round, Kasatkina will face former world number two and now world number 93 Paula Badosa.
Anna Kalinskaya (17) was in a duel with Czech Marie Bouzkova, who finished in the top 40 of the WTA rankings. In the first round, the athletes did not make much effort. Kalinskaya lost only five games and Bouzkova – three; their opponents were Panna Udvardi and Julia Riera respectively.
The result of personal encounters at the professional level was 2-0 in favor of the Czech. She won 6:1, 7:5 in the first round of Cincinnati 2020 (the tournament was held on the courts of the US Open), and at Guadalajara 2022 the Russian retired, losing 2:5 in the first match of the quarterfinals. Today Anna ruined the score in a personal confrontation.
Kalinskaya’s active tennis (her lover Jannik Sinner was again present at the match) brought her success in the first set. However, there were more mistakes at first, and in the fifth game the Russian gave her opponent a break. However, she was able to immediately recover for 3:3. In the seventh game Anna escaped a break point, and in the tenth she took the set, losing only one point – 6:4 in 47 minutes.
Jannik Sinner watches Anna Kalinskaya’s match at Wimbledon 2024
Photo: Frame from the broadcast.
In the second game, Kalinskaya did not change her playing style and lost only one game. Bouzkova did not give up any game without a fight, except perhaps the last one, but Anna, who often and successfully went to the net (12 out of 15), generally played better and more accurately. The key to the victory was that she fought off a total of three break points in her two games in the middle of the set. As a result, Kalinskaya finished the match with 30 winners (25 unforced) and took the win 6:4, 6:1 in 1 hour and 24 minutes.
In the third round, Anna Kalinskaya will face either Elina Avanesyan or another Russian, Lyudmila Samsonova (15). Thus, there will be at least one Russian representative in the round of 16.
Six Russians have now made it to the last 16 at Wimbledon. In addition to Safiullina, Kalinskaya and Kasatkina, there are Daniil Medvedev, Diana Schneider and one of the Avanesyan/Samsonova pairs. And the seventh could be Karen Khachanov.
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