Wimbledon Day 5 - Raducanu lights up Centre but Sabalenka survives, Alcaraz fights through

A blockbuster Friday for British tennis came to a close with Emma Raducanu producing one of her best performances since her US Open title run in 2021, pushing Aryna Sabalenka all the way in two tight sets under the Centre Court lights. Join Kim and Chris as they break down Raducanu’s display, what it means now that she’ll drop to British No. 3, and whether the match was a good advert for women’s night sessions (ahem, Amélie Mauresmo and Roland Garros). It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Brits either, as Cam Norrie and Sonay Kartal continued their strong form to book spots in the fourth round. Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz survived a stern test from the powerful Jan-Lennard Struff to avoid another five-set battle, while Taylor Fritz added another four-set win to his tally — and this time was able to actually wrap things up in broad daylight. Ben Shelton needed just over a minute to complete perhaps the quickest overnight return at Wimbledon, sealing victory against Rinky Hijikata in just over 60 seconds. There was disappointment for big names too, with Australian Open champion Madison Keys falling meekly with illness a factor and Naomi Osaka suffering an agonising defeat, missing a golden chance for a deep Slam run. History was made, though, as lucky loser Solana Sierra became the first female lucky loser ever to reach Wimbledon’s fourth round. BABOLAT Babolat are an official partner of Wimbledon and their Wimbledon collaboration collection is available to purchase now from babolat.com SOCIALS Follow us on Twitter , Instagram , TikTok and YouTube , plus email the show tennisweeklypod@gmail.com . MERCH Purchase Tennis Weekly Merch through our Etsy store including limited edition designs by Krippa Design where all proceeds go towards the podcast so we can keep doing what we do! REVIEWS ***Please take a moment to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your pods. It really means a lot to us at HQ and helps make it easier for new listeners to discover us. Thanks!*** Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.