Wimbledon 2023: Casper Ruud Dumped out by Britain’s Liam Broady in major shock as Katie Boulter Wins
UK (ES) – British wild card Liam Broady earned the biggest win of his career by stunning fourth seed Casper Ruud in a five-set epic to reach the third round at Wimbledon.
Broady, ranked 142 in the world, triumphed 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-3 6-0 in a three-and-a-half hour classic on Centre Court to the delight of a packed crowd.
“When I went to bed last night I was having a think about what I would say if I won the match…and I don’t really know what to say now,” a beaming Broady said after the match.
“It’s a terrifying, exhilarating experience coming out onto Centre Court at Wimbledon. It’s been my dream since I was five years old.”
It marked the first major shock of the men’s singles draw, as the No. 4 seed became the first top 10 player to crash out at SW19 this year.
Up next for the 29-year-old is a third-round tie against No. 26 seed Denis Shapovalov.
The Hill and Centre Court brought the noise for @LiamBroady 💜💚#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/PVAXh2bsrN
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 6, 2023
“Denis is a mercurial talent, he’s one of the best players in the world, as Casper is.
“He’s won junior Wimbledon here, I think he’s made the quarter-finals [in fact the semi-finals in 2021], he’s an amazing player. but with a crowd like this, why not have a go again?”
Things started ominously for the home favourite when Ruud took an early break to go 3-1 up in the first, but the Brit managed to break straight back.
Broady then doubled up with a second break as the fourth seed showed his first signs of weakness, and served out the opener in style with a forehand winner zipping down the line.
Ruud appeared ill-prepared for the grass-court major, having not competed at any preparatory tournaments on the surface or indeed any event at all since Roland-Garros.
But the Norwegian took an early break in the second and showed impressive composure to see off spirited resistance from Broady to serve out.
The momentum appeared to have shifted in the third when Broady double-faulted to give up a break and go 5-4 down before squandering two break-back points as Ruud edged two sets to one in front.
Back to the third round once again 💪@katiecboulter edges past Viktoriya Tomova 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 to move on 🙌#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/Zf0Pu88CjO
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 6, 2023
But the Stockport native came storming back in the fourth, taking an early break to race 3-0 in front and maintaining his advantage to take the set in 34 minutes and set up a decider. After taking a moment to get his wrist taped up, the left-handed Broady gave the London crowd even more reason to cheer as he left them almost in disbelief by breaking Ruud in three consecutive games to leave him needing to serve out a deciding bagel set.
