Del Potro, Isner, Sock bite the upset bug at Wimbledon

There will be no Novak Djokovic vs. Juan Martin Del Potro showdown in the Wimbledon third round. Nor will Grigor Dimitrov go up against John Isner. How about Alexander Zverev vs. Jack Sock? Nope.

Upsets reigned at the All-England Club on Thursday and while Djokovic and Roger Federer remained unscathed, Del Potro, Isner, and Sock all fell victim.

It started with Isner squandering a prime opportunity against an opponent who stands more than a foot shorter than him. The 6’10” American had previously been 4-0 lifetime against 5’9” Israeli Dudi Sela and more of the same appeared to be in the cards when Isner took the first set in a tiebreaker and again when he regained his one-set advantage by breaking serve at 6-5 in the third. After Sela stole the fourth in another ‘breaker, however, one break in the fifth was enough for the diminutive underdog to prevail 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3.

“It’s all between the ears, I think,” Isner admitted. “I had opportunities, of course. When I don’t go for it, bad things happen. That was the case throughout the whole match: me not going for it. That’s why I lost.”

Del Potro lost because he ran into a resurgent adversary. Ernests Gulbis, who has plunged to No. 589 in the world due to physical problems and poor play, powered his way to a 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(3) victory. Prior to destroying Victor Estrella Burgos 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 on Tuesday, the 28-year-old Latvian had not won a tour-level match since the 2016 French Open.

“I played well my first-round match,” Gulbis reflected. “This match I played really, really great tennis. I served well; I returned well. In my opinion, Del Potro is one of the best players. I mean, for sure he has one of the best forehands. He’s really tough to beat.”

“I [didn’t] have my best day on court,” Del Potro lamented. “And he played really well. He served so strong all the time. I couldn’t break his serve (except once) during three sets. I think he’s a very dangerous opponent to play on grass, and he did much better than me today.”

Jack Sock joined Del Potro and Isner on the sidelines following a loss certainly more shocking than the Isner-Sela result and perhaps even more surprising than Del Potro vs. Gulbis. The 18th-ranked American succumbed to 217th-ranked Austrian Sebastian Ofner 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-2 after two hours and 44 minutes. Ofner had never played a single ATP-level, main-draw match prior to this fortnight.

Djokovic and Federer, meanwhile, had no trouble advancing. Thanks to a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 demolition of Adam Pavlasek, Djokovic coasted into the last 32. Federer advanced by beating Dusan Lajovic 7-6(0), 6-3, 6-2.

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