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Third-round competition at Wimbledon gets underway on Friday, when top seed Jannik Sinner and No. 22 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina take the court. They are going up against Jenson Brooksby and Marton Fucsovics, respectively.
(22) Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs. Marton Fucsovics
It can go one of two ways when you win an ATP title the week immediately preceding a Grand Slam. The effort can leave you low on both physical and mental energy with perhaps only one day off in between tournaments, or it can give you a huge momentum boost. For Davidovich Fokina, it looks like the latter development is happening for him at Wimbledon. The 23rd-ranked Spaniard finally became an ATP champion for the first time this past Saturday in Mallorca, and he has parlayed that success into dominant victories at the All-England Club over Juan Manuel Cerundolo and Fabian Marozsan. Davidovich Fokina dropped just six total games to Marozsan, who reached the Mallorca semis before falling to the same opponent in a much tighter 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 contest.
Up next for the 27-year-old on Friday is a third meeting with Fucsovics — their first in four years. Fucsovics cruised 6-3, 6-2 on the indoor hard courts of Rotterdam in 2021 before Davidovich Fokina prevailed in a fifth-set tiebreaker at the 2022 U.S. Open. The rematch is set after the 76th-ranked Hungarian twice took advantage of hobbled opponents. He got a second-set retirement from Luca van Assche and then beat an ill Learner Tien in four sets. Fucsovics has not been in good form this season and his luck is probably due to run out now that he has to face a healthy and confident opponent.
Pick: Davidovich Fokina in 3
(1) Jannik Sinner vs. Jenson Brooksby
Sinner is off to an unspectacular start at the Championships, but the bottom line is that he has already made it farther this fortnight than he did at Roland Garros. Playing his first event since a second-round ouster in Paris, the top-ranked Italian battled past Miomir Kecmanovic in five sets and then beat Nuno Borges 7-6(4), 7-6(2), 6-4.
Standing in Sinner’s way of the last 16 on Friday is Brooksby, who lost their only previous encounter 7-6(2), 6-1 at the 2021 Washington, D.C. ATP 500. The 81st-ranked American’s presence in the third round at the AELTC is a bit surprising, as he had been 6-15 on the main tour in 2026 prior to the beginning of this fortnight. He appears to be turning things around, though, with straight-set blowouts of Aleksandar Vukic and Ignacio Buse. This will be a perfect gauge of Sinner’s level. Brooksby is the kind of player who is not going to give you much — if anything — for free, but he also isn’t going to dictate the outcome of any match as a heavy underdog. If Sinner plays anywhere close to his normal level, he will advance in comfortable fashion.
Pick: Sinner in 3
