Key events
There will be no play for at least another half an hour at the All England Club. Those that have stayed in their seats on the outside courts are huddled under their brollies. Always worth taking one.
Kasatkina might welcome this break in play after losing yet more ground on Samsonova, who broke her serve to lead 2-0 in the second set. Rybakina and Tauson were still level at 4-4 when play was suspended. Yastremska, meanwhile, was fighting back against Bouzas Maneiro to lead the second set 3-0.
The covers come on
Play has been suspended on the outside courts as the rain starts to come down in SW19. A member of the groundstaff takes a tumble as they drag the covers over on Court 2. The roofs have been on the show courts since the start of the day. After the barmy weather of the first few days, normality has somewhat resumed.
Samsonova has taken the first set 6-2 against Kasatkina on Court 3. As has Flavio Cobolli against Jakub Mensik on Court 12. Here are the latest singles scores from around the grounds:
Court 2: Tauson v Rybakina 3-3*
Court 3: Kasatkina v Samsonova 2-6 0*-1
Court 12: Cobolli v Mensik 6-2 0-0*
Court 16: Bouzas Maneiro v Yastremska 6-1 0-1*
Court 18: Bencic v Cocciaretto 5*-4
The 2022 champion Elina Rybakina has flown under the radar in the first week this year, knocking out the unseeded pair of Elina Avanesyan and Maria Sakkari with little fuss – dropping just seven games across four sets.
Out on No 2 Court, Rybakina is locked at 3-3 against the 23rd seed, Clara Tauson, in the first set
Of the early matches on the outside courts, there is particular interest in the matchup between Daria Kasatkina and Liudmila Samsonova on No 3 Court.
Kasatkina, the 16th seed, switched her allegiance from Russia to Australia earlier this year after being critical of her native country’s invasion of Ukraine and the lack of LGBTQ+ rights back home.
The No 19 seed, Samsonova chose to represent Russia – where she was born – in 2018 after growing up in Italy. She is now competing as a neutral athlete on the tour. Samsonova is a break up serve up at 4-2 in the first set.
Despite Raducanu’s exit, there remains home interest in the women’s draw after Sonay Kartal’s impressive form continued yesterday with a straight-sets win against Diane Parry.
She’ll face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the fourth round tomorrow but is in action again today, teaming up with Jodie Burrage in the doubles. The British pair are second up on Court 16 against the 11th seeds, Beatriz Haddad Maia and Laura Siegmund, in round two.
If you missed the sporting theatre of Aryna Sabalenka against Emma Raducanu on Centre Court last night, with the British No 1 giving the tournament favourite a run for her money, then Jonathan Liew was there to capture the moment
Preamble
Hello and welcome to middle Saturday at Wimbledon, where the third round of the men’s and women’s singles draws enters its second day. We’ll have Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, Iga Swiatek and the like all on court as the day progresses. As an SW19 native I can confirm that the weather has been overcast and pretty blustery with a bit of drizzle in the air. Nonetheless, the queue was already snaking right across Wimbledon Park early this morning on what is traditionally the busiest day of the championships.
The world No 1, Jannik Sinner, gets us under way on Centre against Spain’s Pedro Martínez, while teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva opens up on No 1 Court against Hailey Baptiste of the United States.
Here are today’s main-draw singles matches:
Centre Court (1.30pm BST start)
Jannik Sinner (It, 1) v Pedro Martínez (Sp)
Iga Swiatek (Pol, 8) v Danielle Collins (US)
Miomir Kecmanovic (Ser) v Novak Djokovic (Ser, 6)
No 1 Court (1pm BST start)
Mirra Andreeva (7) v Hailey Baptiste (US)
Barbora Krejcikova (Cz, 17) v Emma Navarro (US, 10)
Ben Shelton (US, 10) v Marton Fucsovics (Hun)
No 2 Court (11am BST start)
Clara Tauson (Den, 23) v Elena Rybakina (Kaz, 11)
Alex de Minaur (Aus, 11) v August Holmgren (Den)
No 3 Court (11am BST start)
Daria Kasatkina (Aus, 16) v Liudmila Samsonova (19)
Grigor Dimitrov (Bul, 19) v Sebastian Ofner (Aut)
Court 12 (11am BST start)
Flavio Cobolli (It, 22) v Jakub Mensik (Cz, 15)
Zeynep Sonmez (Tur) v Ekaterina Alexandrova (18)
Court 16 (11am BST start)
Jessica Bouzas Maneiro (Sp) v Dayana Yastremska (Ukr)
Court 18 (11am BST start)
Belinda Bencic (Swi) v Elisabetta Cocciaretto (It)
Marin Cilic (Cro) v Jaume Munar (Sp)
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