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Wimbledon Day 4: Draper Out, Swiatek Survives, Shelton's Curfew

Day 4 at the Championships brought upsets, battles, and more curfew drama.
Megha Gupta|
Marin Čilić upset Jack Draper in the second round of Wimbledon 2025.
Marin Čilić upset Jack Draper in the second round of Wimbledon 2025. | IMAGO / Propaganda Photo

Wimbledon is proving to be the most entertaining Slam of the year. Day 4 was no less short of upsets and drama than the first few days, albeit more subdued, with several players making Round 3 at the Championships for the very first time.

Jack Draper Falls to Marin Cilic

Former Grand Slam champion Marin Cilic turned back time with his upset over fourth seed and hometown favorite Jack Draper on No. 1 Court. With Draper out of the running, a total of 36 seeded players across both the men's and women's draw have failed to advance past the second round.

The 2014 US Open champion looked perfectly in form, hitting 53 winners to Draper's 29 and making the youngster work hard for every shot he hit. Draper attempted a comeback with a decisive 6-1 win in the third set; however, Cilic was undeterred, easily taking the fourth 6-4. A flatter forehand worked to Cilic's favor, driving it down the line in times of need for easy winners.

Sitting at World No. 4 and fresh off a Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells this year, Draper entered the Championships with added momentum. It wasn't meant to be.

Pressure amounted on the Brit could have been a contributing factor, given the surrounding talk of a successor to Andy Murray's Wimbledon crown. Although, Draper admitted to flaws in his own game on grass rather than outside forces impacting his mentality.

"I've really struggled on the grass, in all honesty," Draper said. "I felt great on the hard, felt great on the clay. My game, I felt like there wasn't many holes, whereas, as soon as I came onto the grass, I felt a big difference."

Zeynep Sonmez Makes History

Zeynep Sonmez makes history as the first woman from Turkey to make the third round of a Grand Slam. The 23-year-old defeated Berlin finalist Wang Xinyu 7-5, 7-5, to advance to the next round. It wasn't easy, with Sonmez coming back from three games down in the first set and holding her serve in a crucial game at 4-5 in the second.

Sonmez previously made history after defeating Jaqueline Cristian 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the first round, becoming the first Turkish woman to win a main draw match at Wimbledon. She is no stranger to success on the tour, winning her first WTA title in Merida, Mexico, last year and breaking into the Top 100 shortly after.

She joins compatriot Cagla Buyukakcay as one of two Turkish women to have accomplished the feat. Sonmez faces 18th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the next round.

Iga Swiatek Survives Caty McNally

As one of the few seeds left in the draw, Iga Swiatek had a huge task ahead of her: survive. It didn't look like she would, at first, dropping the first set 5-7 to Caty McNally after holding a 4-1 lead. Rather than fall apart, Swiatek kept her cool, losing just three games across the next two sets to win the match 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.

"I started the match well, so I knew that my game was there," Swiatek said. "I lost it for a second, and for sure, Caty used that. Did some errors that shouldn't have happened. I knew at the beginning of the second set that I got this with me. I just need to use it and be more intense."

The World No. 8 has yet to make it past the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, the running joke being that grass is her least favorite surface. That all changed this season when she defied all odds to make the Bad Homburg final in the days leading up to Wimbledon, ultimately falling to Jessica Pegula.

She faces American Danielle Collins in the next round. Swiatek leads the head-to-head 7-2, although Collins won their last encounter in Rome earlier this year.

Qualifier August Homgren Continues Cinderella Run

When picturing a Dane advancing in Wimbledon, one would assume you were talking about Holger Rune. That's not the case this year.

After a grueling four hours and 39 minutes, Danish qualifier August Holmgren advances past Tomas Machac to make his first third round appearance at a Grand Slam. The World No. 192 hit 81 winners and saved three match points in a Cinderella story fit for Wimbledon.

Holmgren played college tennis at the University of San Diego while pursuing a bachelor's in theatre arts and performance studies. Aside from Davis Cup, Holmgren had played just one tour-level match in San Diego in 2021, which he lost to Grigor Dimitrov.

The Dane played his first Wimbledon qualifiers this year to make his first Grand Slam main draw. He saved three match points in his final qualifying match against Yosuke Watanuki before going on to beat Quentin Halys in straight sets during the first round.

Ben Shelton Hit with Curfew

The curfew strikes again.

Ben Shelton was serving for the match at 5-4 after taking the first two sets over Rinky Hijikata when the umpire called for play to be suspended at 9:29 PM local time, 10 minutes after the sun set. The decision came over 30 minutes after both players argued for the match to be suspended just before the sun started to set.

The official curfew at Wimbledon is set at 11 PM local time on Centre Court to account for local residents' consideration. Outer courts have an earlier cutoff time due to a lack of outdoor lighting, with matches stopped at sunset to avoid the incoming darkness.

Shelton expressed his frustration to the officials overseeing the match in yet another curfew-based decision that has impacted the men's draw, the first coming during Taylor Fritz's first round match on Monday. Shelton and Hijikata are set to finish the match sometime today.

Wimbledon continues play through July 13. Stay locked into Sports Illustrated's Serve On SI for all your news from the tennis court and beyond.

More Tennis News

Ben Shelton reacts to Wimbledon match suspension on Instagram.

Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas split after Wimbledon.

Emma Raducanu says "no pressure" against Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon.

Wimbledon Day 2: iconic outfits shine as top players fall.

Gauff and Pegula fall in historic first-round upsets.

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Megha Gupta
MEGHA GUPTA

Megha Gupta is a multimedia journalist studying at Columbia University. She has a passion for exploring the intersections of fashion, culture, and sports, and previously covered the 2024 Paris Olympics at NBC Sports.

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