Fils, winner on withdrawal: "It's very difficult to win a match like that against a friend".
Arthur Fils pulled off a huge coup on Thursday. Up against an in-form Hubert Hurkacz, the Frenchman played an excellent game, taking full advantage of his opponent's poor form.
Quickly leading two sets to nil (7-6, 6-4), things started to get tougher when the Pole flew through the third set to get back on track (7-6, 6-4, 2-6).
Then, just as the two men were engaged in an epic tie-break in the 4th set, Hurkacz was injured, quite seriously it would seem. After trying to get back into the match, the world number 7 gave in and withdrew.
Asked about this rather unusual match, the world number 34 explained: "It's very difficult to win a match like that against a friend. We played very well in the fourth set. We had some very good points, and he was jumping all over the place.
I'm really sorry for him and I hope he recovers very quickly. I'm concentrating on the next round. I didn't really like the grass at first.
But I feel I'm playing well and I'm very happy to be in the third round. I'm going to do my best to get into the second week."
Hurkacz, Hubert
Fils, Arthur
Wimbledon