Broady hangs tough to seize Wimbledon glory

A sensational fighting performance saw Liam Broady come back from the dead on a raucous Court 3 at Wimbledon and make a Grand slam 3rd round for the first time with a thrilling five set win over Diego Schwartzman.

Broady shocked the Argentinian number 12 seed, fighting back from losing eleven straight games and being 3-0 down in the fourth set to seal a 6-2 4-6 0-6 7-6 (6) 6-1 win.

Broady set off like an express train, breaking Schwartzman in the third game and again in the fifth to rack up an early 5-1 lead, and he sealed the first set 6-2 with an unreturnable serve.

The diminutive Schwartzman, who had come back from a first set deficit to knock Broady out in the second round last year, was improved in the second set, fighting off two Broady break points in the third time and by the eighth game he was starting to pressure Broady, but the two players were locked together at 4-4.

Schwartzman’s pressure continued as Broady sought to stay in the second set and he brought up two break points at 15-40. Despite Broady escaping those two, Schwartzman brought up a third chance and this time he took it to bring the match level at one set all.

The third set went by in a blur, with Broady blown away 6-0. And as Schwartzman also broke early in the fourth set to bring up a 3-0 lead, the match appeared to be entering its final stages.

Broady managed to get on the scoreboard in the fourth game but it was still a shock when he won and then took a break point in the fifth game to get back on serve. And when he followed that up with another hold he had drawn level at 3-3.

Broady was now trading much more evenly, targeting the Schwartzman forehand as the crowd increasingly started to believe that the Stockport-born left hander could take the match to a fifth set.

Schwartzman drew first blood in the fourth set tie break moving into a 2-0 lead, but Broady forced a forehand error to get level at 2-2, and when Schwartzman made another unforced forehand error, Broady had 5-3 and was just two points from levelling the match.

A raking forehand just went long which would have brought up a set point, and then at 5-4, having set up the point beautifully he netted a forehand winner attempt to allow the game back to 5-5.

A long rally which ended when Schwartzman hit long brought up a set point for Broady which Schwartzman saved with an inch perfect winner that clipped the baseline.

But despite that agony, Broady was not to be denied and two points later he took the second set 8-6.

Schwartzman was desperately trying to clear his head and went for a bathroom break to collect his thoughts, but it was Broady in the ascendancy now and having twice saved game points he moved 3-1 ahead when his pressure on the Schwartzman forehand again bore fruit.

Broady comfortably held and then to the amazement of a wildly supportive crowd he broke again to bring up a commanding 5-1 lead. Broady was taking the acclaim of the crowd, but he still had a job to do and a netted double fault betrayed his nerves as he tried to seal a famous victory. A second double fault brought it back to 30ALL but Broady wasn’t to be denied and a long rally which finished with a Schwartzman netted forehand was a fitting way to bring up a famous victory.

One thought on “Broady hangs tough to seize Wimbledon glory

  • July 1, 2022 at 11:48 am
    Permalink

    Perfect Reporting & a memorable step forward for Liam. Now he’s got the whole of the City team behind him there will be no stopping him from beating All Future Opponents!!!!!!!! βš½οΈπŸ’™πŸ”₯πŸ”₯πŸ”₯

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *