Unseeded American stuns Wawrinka in 5 sets
6-foot-11 American Reilly Opelka defeats Stan Wawrinka in five sets to advance at Wimbledon. (0:47)
LONDON — Unseeded Reilly Opelka of the United States edged three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 8-6 at Wimbledon on Wednesday to reach the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.
The 63rd-ranked Opelka, who is making his debut at Wimbledon and playing in only his fourth Grand Slam tournament, earned the only service break of the fifth set in the last game, helped by four groundstroke errors from Wawrinka, who was seeded 22nd.
This was only the sixth Grand Slam match of Opelka’s career. Opelka, 21, defeated John Isner in the first round of the Australian Open in January.
The 6-foot-11 Opelka used his serve to get things done against Wawrinka. He finished with 23 aces, with several serves topping 140 mph. One, at 142 mph, tied with Zverev for the fastest of the tournament so far.
Eight of Opelka’s aces came in the last set, when he saved both break points he faced. In all, he fended off 10 of Wawrinka’s 12 break chances.
It was another upset in a tournament filled with early surprises. On Monday, both No. 6 Alexander Zverev and No. 7 Stefanos Tsitsipas were eliminated. No. 5 Dominic Thiem, a French Open finalist the past two years, followed them out of the tournament on Tuesday.
Opelka becomes the first American man since Justin Gimelstob in 1997 to knock out a previous major title winner in his Wimbledon main draw debut.
Wimbledon is the only major tournament Wawrinka hasn’t won. He has lost in either the first or second round at the All England Club in each of the past four years since reaching the quarterfinals in 2014 and 2015.
Meanwhile, former finalist Milos Raonic is through to the third round of Wimbledon for the sixth year in a row.
Raonic beat Robin Haase 7-6 (1), 7-5, 7-6 (4) to set up a meeting with Opelka.
Raonic needed treatment on his left ankle and Achilles when trailing 5-4 in the third set but finished off the win by converting his first match point in the tiebreaker. The Canadian was broken only once in the match as Haase took a 6-5 lead in the first set, but Raonic broke right back. Raonic lost the 2016 final to Andy Murray.
Thomas Fabbiano of Italy also advanced, following up his upset win over Stefanos Tsitsipas by beating Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4. At 40, Karlovic became the oldest man since 1975 to win at Wimbledon by advancing to the second round. The Croatian finished with 38 aces but only forced one break point in the match, which he couldn’t convert.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.