Auger-Aliassime ends his Wimbledon frustration as Hurkacz downs Paul in the last matches of the day

Canadian third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime reached the fourth round of Wimbledon for only the second time in his career on Friday evening, beating American qualifier Michael Zheng 7-6 (1), 6-2, 6-1 to end years of early exits at the All England Club.

Auger-Aliassime, ranked No 4, had reached this stage only once in six previous appearances – the quarter-finals in 2021 – and had lost in the first round in three of the last four editions, making his progress this fortnight a pointed answer to a difficult stretch at the tournament. He edged a tight opening set on a tie-break he dominated 7-1, then pulled away, conceding just three games across the final two sets.

The win continued an upturn that also carried him to a maiden Roland-Garros quarter-final last month, and marked the fifth win of his week without the loss of a set. Auger-Aliassime had earlier beaten Croat Dino Prizmic (7-6 (2), 6-3, 7-5) and Kazakh Aleksandr Shevchenko (6-3, 6-1, 6-4).

Zheng, the world No 144, had been one of the stories of the men’s draw. Through qualifying and playing his first Wimbledon, the American had strung together five wins on the London grass, including a five-set upset of English seed No 26 Cameron Norrie (6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-3, 7-6 (4)) and a four-set win over Colombian Nicolas Mejia (6-7 (4), 7-6 (8), 6-1, 6-4), before running into an opponent in command of the occasion.

Auger-Aliassime will next face Spanish seed No 22 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the Mallorca champion, for a place in the quarter-finals.

Next to them in the draw, Pole Hubert Hurkacz produced the grass-court tennis that once carried him to the semi-finals here (2021), beating American seed No 21 Tommy Paul 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5, 6-2 in three hours and 15 minutes. Hurkacz, ranked No 96, dropped the opening set but took control on the back of a serve that yielded 20 aces and 45 winners, reaching the Wimbledon fourth round for the first time since 2023.

It was only his second win over Paul in five meetings, the American having led their head-to-head 3-1, and it set up a last-16 tie with German Jan-Lennard Struff, the pair’s fifth meeting. Paul, whose 71 per cent career win rate at Wimbledon had been among his best at any major, was undone in part by six double faults on a day his serve deserted him at the wrong moments.

Wimbledon 2026, men’s singles third round

J. Sinner [1] d. J. Brooksby: 6-4, 6-3, 6-4
S. Mochizuki (Q) d. R. Jodar [23]: 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-4
H. Hurkacz d. T. Paul [21]: 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5, 6-2
J. Struff d. D. Medvedev [8]: 7-6(4), 7-6(5), 7-5
F. Auger-Aliassime [3] d. M. Zheng (Q): 7-6 (1), 6-2, 6-1
A. Davidovich Fokina [22] d. M. Zheng (Q): 7-6(3), 6-2, 6-3
R. Safiullin (Q) d. J. Fonseca [24]: 6-3, 6-3, 6-3
N. Djokovic [7] d. A. Rinderknech [25]: 7-5, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(4)
A. De Minaur [5] vs Z. Svajda – saturday
K. Khachanov [19] vs F. Cobolli [9] – saturday
G. Dimitrov (W) vs M. Berrettini – saturday
Z. Bergs vs A. Fery (W) – saturday
T. Fritz [6] vs L. Sonego – saturday
F. Tiafoe [17] vs A. Bublik [10] – saturday
J. Lehecka [13] vs J. Munar – saturday
M. Giron vs A. Zverev [2] – saturday