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A16 sports
Friday 1 July 2022
Most American men reach Wimbledon's 3rd round since 1995

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) day, before heading back fied."
— Brandon Nakashima's out to watch 18-year-old Still, any sort of positive
victory over 2021 Wim- American Coco Gauff sign for U.S. men in ten-
bledon semifinalist Denis beat Mihaela Buzarnescu nis is bound to gain atten-
Shapovalov at Court 12 on 6-2, 6-3 on Centre Court. tion. They haven't had the
Thursday at the All England Gauff, the French Open success the women have
Club? Martin Blackman runner-up, became the lately, led, of course, by
was there. fourth U.S. woman in the Serena Williams and Venus
That came after Taylor Fritz third round, joining No. 8 Williams, but also with ma-
used a full-on, headfirst seed Jessica Pegula, No. jor trophies in the past five
dive to reach an unreach- 20 Amanda Anisimova and years for Sloane Stephens
able shot on the way to Alison Riske-Amritraj. Gauff and Sofia Kenin, and run-
eliminating Alastair Gray on faces Anisimova next. ners-up in that span such as
the same patch of grass. "We're moving in the right Gauff and Madison Keys.
Blackman was present for Taylor Fritz of the U.S. returns to Britain's Alastair Gray in a second direction. Obviously the Consider the history: No
round men's single match on day four of the Wimbledon tennis
that one, too, just as he was championships in London, Thursday, June 30, 2022. goal isn't the third round. man from the country that
for Jenson Brooksby's win at Associated Press The goal is much farther produced Bill Tilden and
Court 17. than that," Blackman said. Don Budge, John McEnroe
All in all, it's been quite a players left in the field, the U.S. Tennis Association and "But when you get numbers and Jimmy Connors, Pete
productive — and rare most for the country at the Blackman, the general like this, it's an indicator of Sampras and Andre Agassi
— start to Wimbledon for grass-court Grand Slam manager of USTA Player a process that's working. So has won any singles Grand
Nakashima, Fritz, Brooksby tournament since 1995. It's Development. I think that's what's so en- Slam title since Andy Rod-
and other American men: also the most at any major "It was fun. It was really fun. couraging. All the guys that dick did 19 years ago at
There will be eight of them since the 1996 U.S. Open. I was bouncing around," are in the third round want the U.S. Open.
in the third round, account- And so, in some ways, it's Blackman said during an to go much farther; I don't Then there's this: In 2013,
ing for a quarter of the 32 been quite a start for the evening rain delay Thurs- think any of them are satis- zero men from the United
States reached Wimble-
don's third round -- some-
thing that hadn't hap-
pened since 1912, when
no Americans entered the
event.
"It's great to see everyone
doing well, going deep in
these tournaments," said
Nakashima, a 20-year-old
Californian who is ranked
56th and got past the 13th-
seeded Shapovalov, a Ca-
nadian, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (6)
to get to the third round at
the second consecutive
major. "I'm just happy to be
on the list."
So let's look at that list. He
joins two other Californians
who advanced Thursday
— No. 11 seed Fritz beat
Britain's Alastair Gray 6-3,
7-6 (3), 6-3, and No. 29
Brooksby beat France's
Benjamin Bonzi 7-6 (3), 7-5,
6-3 — along with four U.S.
men who will play in the
third round Friday: No. 20
John Isner (against No. 10
Jannik Sinner of Italy), No.
23 Frances Tiafoe (against
Alexander Bublik of Ka-
zakhstan), No. 30 Tommy
Paul (against Jiri Vesely of
the Czech Republic) and
unseeded Steve Johnson
(against No. 9 Cam Norrie
of Britain).
The country is assured of
an eighth spot in the third
round because two Ameri-
cans were facing each
other in a match suspend-
ed because of rain and
postponed until Friday. q