Battle-hardened Bublik

Already two tough five-setters for the Kazakh...

He It's safe to say that Bublik did not exactly enter Wimbledon with the best form. Failing to defend a lot of points from the clay altitude tournaments and then bowing out in the first round in Halle, where he was the champion. Not only that, but then to get tested by the dangerous Kokkinakis in the first round of Wimbledon as well. Is it possible that the challenging matches against Kokkinakis and the in-form Tiafoe could be a really good thing heading into this match against Fritz? Being able to play a bit more "free", without huge expectations or pressure. Taylor's way to the fourth round has been a little bit less dramatic. Lajovic and an injured Kypson in the first two rounds. Sonego put up some resistance in the third round with a great performance, but was worn down by Mr. Consistent himself in four sets.

This is quite a hard matchup for Bublik... he doesn't really like to face Big Servers with an attacking baseline game - and yes, Fritz is obviously a better version of Kokkinakis. It's hard because he struggles to get into their service games, and then he is way more likely to drop a bad service game himself, usually including a double fault or two from blasting huge second serves. At least Bublik can exploit Fritz's ability in the front of the court a bit with drop shots! Bublik has a high peak but low floor against these kinds of players. It needs to be a good day for him... not chaining too many second serves or double faults together and stringing a few good returns together. Fritz is someone who tends to be very solid and consistent on serve, so it really is Bublik who needs to be the one who imposes himself here and makes something happen. They will be playing on Court 1, which is where Bublik just had his epic win against Tiafoe. Can he build on this...?