The Wimbledon tournament is slowly becoming the crowning glory of 26-year-old Russian tennis player Roman Safiullin. This year, the native of Podolsk in the English capital is defending 360 points from last year’s quarter-finals. At the moment, the defence of the quarter-finals is going quite successfully. Roman has already reached the third round, although he has not made it past the second round in any of the other Grand Slam tournaments in a total of seven attempts (four in Australia, two in France and one in the USA).
Safiullin’s health before the third Grand Slam tournament of the season caused some concern, as he had already won his last ATP title on April 8 before arriving in the English capital. Since then, Roman’s record includes a seven-match losing streak, but in London the tennis player has traditionally played well. Moreover, the Russian athlete also wins based on his character.
In the first round, in a five-set marathon, he knocked out 26th seed Francisco Serundolo, managing to leave with a 0:2 score in the games: 6:7, 3:6, 7:5, 6:3, 6:4. The first round match lasted two days, as a result of which Roman played his next match in the tournament without a day off. On Thursday, July 4, Safiullin defeated Czech Tomas Machac in four games: 6:2, 6:4, 5:7, 6:3. The Russian’s new opponent is the rising star of French tennis Arthur Fis.
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Fis is only 20 years old and it was only two years ago that the young Frenchman played his first match at ATP level. He received a wildcard for the local tournament in Paris and was scheduled to play against Italian Matteo Berrettini. The Italian tennis player withdrew from the French Masters, making way for his compatriot Fabio Fognini in the main draw. The veteran of the men’s circuit experienced major problems with Arthur in the first two sets, whose fate was decided each time in the tie-breaks, but in the third game the Frenchman was disappointed by his physical preparation and there was no longer a fight.
From the following season, Arthur began to perform at Grand Slam tournaments. He received a natural wildcard for his native Roland Garros, where he arrived in high spirits. Two days before the start of the Paris Major, Fiss won the first ATP tournament of his career and took the title in Lyon. In the final match, Arthur broke Serundolo’s resistance in two sets: 6:3, 7:5.
But Fis had to wait several months for her first victory in TBS matches. Thanks to the wildcard, she performed not only in Paris, but also in London, but in both cases lost in the first round. It had to happen that twice in a row Fis faced the same opponent – the experienced Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina, seeded in both tournaments. In six attempts, Fiss did not take a single game from the Spaniard, losing twice in a row in three sets.
But Arthur’s career developed gradually. And now, to perform in New York at the first US Open of his career, Fis did not need either a wildcard or a qualification. He entered the main draw directly and reached the second round of the TBS for the first time. In the USA, the French tennis player played two five-set matches, first defeating the decent Dutchman Tallon Grixpoor, and then losing to the Italian Matteo Arnaldi.
arthur’s rates
Photo: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
At the first tournament of this season, the native of Bondouflage received a lot of praise from Andrei Rublev. The paths of the tournament of the Frenchman and the Russian crossed in the quarterfinals in Hong Kong. Andrey won a hard-fought victory in three sets, after which he burst out in praise of his opponent.
“Very tough. He played very well. He is very talented; for his age he is already very fast and powerful. I think he will be a great tennis player. With such players we will have incredible tennis in the future. I wish him success, he is a great guy,” Rublev said exactly seven months ago.
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Over the next seven months, Fis demonstrated a stable game, without significant ups and downs or failures. This is most clearly demonstrated by the player’s position in the world rankings. Arthur started the tennis season at 36th place in the ATP rankings and now occupies 34th place. In May 2024, he briefly rose to 30th place, which is the best result of his career.
At the 2024 Australian Open he lost in the second round, at Roland Garros 2024 in the first round, but at Wimbledon this year he managed to reach the third round at the TBS for the first time. In the opening match of the English Major, Arthur faced Swiss Dominik Stefan Stricker, after which there was great drama on the court in the next match.
The day before, Fiss played a second round match against seventh-seeded Pole Hubert Hurkacz. Arthur confidently won two games, then lost the third, and the fourth set was decided in a tie-break. Arthur and Hubert engaged in an impressive battle on the court, from which the Pole was able to emerge victorious, allowing him to take the match to a fifth set. With the score 7:7 in the 13th game, Hubert won the most important rally and earned a set point, but at that moment he suffered a sprained ankle, which prevented him from continuing the match. The medical time-out did not help Hurkacz: he lost the next two points, and on his opponent’s match point, with the score 9:8 in Fis’s favour, the Pole retired in the tie-break.
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“I saw a friend who was in pain and couldn’t move. I didn’t care about the score. I just hoped he was okay and could walk and stuff. He said he had something wrong with his knee. By that time I had forgotten what the score was. I just tried to help him,” Fis said in an on-court interview.
Arthur Fiss – Hubert Hurkacz
Photo: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
Thus, the world number 34 became the youngest player in the last 10 years to defeat a top-10 ATP player at the Wimbledon men’s singles tournament. Previously, a similar achievement was achieved by Wimbledon 2022 finalist Nick Kyrgios of Australia. In 2014, he defeated 22-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal.
The match between Safiullin and Fis is scheduled for Saturday, July 5. Follow this and other matches of the “Championship”!
