Andy Murray will return to Centre Court trying to finish the job in his second-round match against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The two-time champion was two sets to one up against the Greek fifth seed when play was halted at around 10.40pm on Thursday night.
His addition to the line-up makes it a bumper day of action, with the British number one, men’s and women’s number ones and the player who has won more grand slam titles than anyone else also playing.
Here, the PA news agency looks ahead at Friday’s play.
More Murray mayhem
All eyes will be on how Andy Murray pulls up in the morning after the injury scare he suffered in the penultimate point of Thursday night’s action.
On set point, the 36-year-old went down screaming when trying to change direction before picking himself up and delivering an unreturnable serve that put him 2-1 up.
The match referee then decided it was too late to start a fourth set, meaning Murray and Tsitsipas must return on Friday afternoon to finish with the Scot leading 6-7 (3) 7-6 (2) 6-4.
Centre’s golden ticket
People with Centre Court tickets will be wondering how they got so lucky as they could hardly have picked a better line-up.
With the bonus of Murray finishing his match with Tsitsipas, those gracing Wimbledon’s main show court on Friday boast a combined 34 grand slam singles titles.
Carlos Alcaraz, who felt sidelined when he could not play on Centre Court in front of Roger Federer on Tuesday, opens against Alexandre Muller before Murray returns to finish his match.
Then women’s top seed Iga Swiatek will play Petra Martic before the headline act between Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka closes a thrilling day’s action.
Match of the day
One of the big rivalries of the last 15 years is reignited on Centre Court as defending champion Djokovic faces Wawrinka in the third round.
The pair have fought it out on the biggest stage over the years with two of Wawrinka’s three grand slam titles coming after beating Djokovic in the final, most memorably in a stunning performance at the French Open in 2015.
But injury has taken its toll on the Swiss in recent years and he is no longer competing at the same level as Djokovic, who has almost got better with age.
Wawrinka has given himself “zero” chance of winning Wimbledon but he will have plenty of support on Centre Court as he eyes a huge upset.
Brit watch
Along with Murray’s match to a finish, Cameron Norrie finally returns to action as he looks for a knockout blow in his second-round match with Chris Eubanks.
The British number one has not been on court since Tuesday due to rain delays so he will be at least rested for his Court One bout with the American.
And Liam Broady will look to follow up his stunning win over fourth seed Casper Ruud when he faces former semi-finalist Denis Shapovalov on Court Two.
Order of play
Centre Court
Carlos Alcaraz v Alexandre Muller
Andy Murray v Stefanos Tsitsipas
Iga Swiatek v Petra Martic
Novak Djokovic v Stan Wawrinka
Court One
Aryna Sabalenka v Varvara Gracheva
Cameron Norrie v Chris Eubanks
Ons Jabeur v Bai Zhuoxuan
Other British singles
Liam Broady v Denis Shapovalov (Court 2)
Weather
Sunny, with highs of 28C.
Madrid Open: Nadal roars to victory against De Minaur
Rafael Nadal delighted his home fans at the Madrid Open as he roared to an impressive victory over Alex de Minaur on Saturday.
The Spaniard battled to a 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 victory to earn his first win over a top-20 player in the world rankings since the ATP Finals back in 2022.
De Minaur had beaten Nadal last week in Barcelona, but the five-time Madrid champion was not to be denied this time in front of a crowd which included King Felipe VI along with football stars Zinedine Zidane and Vinicius Jr.
Emerging triumphant from an epic 77-minute opening set proved decisive, with Nadal more comfortable in the second as De Minaur missed an opportunity to become the first player to beat him in consecutive weeks since Novak Djokovic achieved the feat way back in 2011.
Nadal will take on Pedro Cachin in the third round after the Argentine dumped out Fances Tiafoe in three sets.
"I'm super happy to be able to be competitive against a great player like Alex and play over two hours," Nadal said, per the ATP Tour website.
"It means a lot to me and the atmosphere here is just a joke, so I can't thank enough everybody here.
"It still needs time [until I am back to my best]. I think for moments it has been a good level of tennis. I was able to do positive things, but still on and off.
"But I really believe that tennis hasn't been an issue for the last two years. More the physical issues.
"If I am able to play weeks in a row and if I am able to play tennis, then I'm going to see how far I can go and how competitive I could be. But that's not the case yet, just step by step and let's see how I recover."
Elsewhere at the tournament, Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner, playing as the top seed at a Masters 1000 event for the first time, cruised to victory over fellow Italian Lorenzo Sonego to start his campaign in style.
It took Sinner just 69 minutes to win 6-0 6-3 and improve to 26-2 in a remarkable 2024 season so far.
“I know Lorenzo quite well and we have a good friendship off the court, we play Davis Cup together, we practise a lot together,” Sinner said.
“The mental side was a little bit different than it used to be, so I'm just happy how I handled the situation. He didn't play at his best. I think we saw this. I wish him all the best for the rest of the season.”
Progress was harder to come by for Daniil Medvedev as he lost the opening set to Matteo Arnaldi, though the third seed eventually battled through 2-6 6-4 6-4 to book a third-round clash with American Sebastian Korda.
There was a surprise result, though, with Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro ending the fine recent form of Stefanos Tsitsipas with a 6-4 6-4 victory.
Tsitsipas was 10-1 on clay this year going into the match, but the sixth seed crashed to a shock defeat just a week after Monteiro had lost in the first round of a Challenger Tour event in Portugal, marking a rapid reversal of his fortunes.
“Every week you have a new opportunity," said Monteiro. “These past few weeks I wasn’t feeling really good on the court. I was trying to do well at Challengers but it didn’t work.
“I just kept up the hard work, day by day. Even when I was not feeling good and not winning matches, I kept believing in myself, and this week it has paid off.
"For sure one of the biggest wins of my career. I knew it was a really tough match and I tried to just believe in myself all the time."
Sunday’s matches will see Nadal’s compatriot Carlos Alcaraz continue his campaign with a third-round clash against Thiago Seyboth Wild.
Swiatek soars into Madrid Open last 16 after dropping just two games against Cirstea
Iga Swiatek stormed through to the Madrid Open last 16 following a dominant straight-sets victory over Sorana Cirstea.
The world number one dropped just two games as she inflicted a comprehensive 6-1 6-1 rout on her Romanian opponent in the Spanish capital.
Swiatek, who was runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka in last year's event, will play Sara Sorribes Tormo in the round of 16 after the Spaniard defeated two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka.
The Pole is now 26-4 for the season, in which she has already triumphed at the Qatar Open and Indian Wells Open, as she eyes the ninth WTA 1000 singles title of her career.
Data debrief
Swiatek is through to her sixth round of 16 from seven main-draw appearances in WTA 1000 events on clay (85.7 per cent) - the highest percentage rate among players with at least five such appearances since the format's introduction in 2009.
The three-time French Open champion also boasts the best WTA match win rate of any player since 2000 on clay (87 per cent). Overall, only Chris Evert (94.5 per cent), Margaret Court (89.5 per cent) and Steffi Graf (89.2 per cent) boast a higher percentage in the Open Era.
Alcaraz begins Madrid Open campaign with emphatic win
Carlos Alcaraz continued his fine record at the Madrid Open with an emphatic 6-2 6-1 victory over Alexander Shevchenko on Friday.
The two-time defending champion made it 12 straight wins at his home tournament to ensure he will face Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild in the last 32.
Alcaraz was playing his first match on the ATP Tour since March 28 after being unable to compete in the Monte-Carlo Masters and Barcelona Open due to an arm injury.
But he was still able to make a fine start to his clay-court season, breaking serve in the first game and racing to victory in only one hour and eight minutes.
Data Debrief
Sometimes the scoreline can be harsh on a beaten player, but on this occasion Alcaraz was clearly dominant, breaking the Kazakh seven times in the match and forcing 11 break-point opportunities while conceding only three for his opponent.
That allowed the Spaniard to claim a dominant victory despite being broken once in each set. He will now turn his attention to a clash with Seyboth Wild, who battled past Lorenzo Musetti with a 6-4 6-4 win.
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