A place in the vaunted second week of Wimbledon will be at stake on Friday when Tommy Paul meets Hubert Hurkacz in the third round. Having no days off from the previous match, Jan-Lennard Struff will face Daniil Medvedev.
Hubert Hurkacz vs. (21) Tommy Paul
Paul and Hurkacz will meet for the fifth time in their careers when they meet in the third round of Wimbledon on Friday. The head-to-head series is 3-1 in favor of Paul, who has won three times in a row against Hurkacz after losing their first indoor hard-court meeting in Paris in 2021. Their last meetings took place at the Rome Masters in 2024 and 2025, where Paul won with a score of 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, and then 7-6 (4), 6-3.
The grass court certainly gives Hurkac a better chance. The 96th-ranked Pole is a former Wimbledon semi-finalist (2021) and reached the fourth round in 2023. Worryingly, however, he had not progressed beyond the second round of any Grand Slam tournament since the 2024 French Open before beating Casper Ruud and Sebastian Ofner earlier this week. These are decent results in straight sets, but don’t forget that meeting Ruud on the grass is nothing more than a virtual goodbye. Paul is in much better form, finishing second at the Royal Club and then completely demolishing Alexander Muller and Sunwoo Kwon to start his Wimbledon campaign. The 25th-ranked American is a superb all-court player these days, so Hurkacz will be in trouble if he doesn’t produce one of the best service games of his career.
Choice: Gender in 4
Jan-Lennard Struff vs (8) Daniil Medvedev
Struff appeared to be heading out of the tournament on Thursday afternoon. Brandon Nakashima was undefeated the entire match when he came to the line to serve at 5-4 in the fifth set. However, out of nowhere, Struff pulled away to stay alive and ended up winning 4-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 6-7(6), 7-6(10-7) after four hours and 21 minutes. Thursday was only the fifth set after the match was postponed due to darkness on Wednesday night, so fatigue should not be a major factor for Struff.
Next, the 36-year-old German will face his 12th match against Medvedev, who dominates the head-to-head series with a score of 9-2 (8-1 in the main round). They met twice on grass, with Struff winning 7-6(6), 6-3 at Halle in 2021, before Medvedev got the job done in a fourth-set tiebreaker at Wimbledon in 2024. The ninth-ranked Russian has been all over the place in 2026, but he has at least managed to win a few matches in both ‘s-Hertogenbosch and Halle, and has already done the same at the All England. A club with regular wins over Marin Cilic and Daniel Merida. Medvedev’s defense has almost always prevailed over Struff’s offense, so there is no real reason to believe that this time will be any different.
Pick: Medvedev in the fourth round