Joao Fonseca shows grit, another high seed falls, and Emma Raducanu gets ready for the spotlight

After a barrage of upsets in the opening two days, Wimbledon calmed down considerably on Wednesday. That’s partly because, with the draws moving onto the second round, there were half as many singles matches played. And it’s partly because, with 23 seeds falling in the first round, there are far fewer upsets possible.

Still, even on a quiet day, another high seed was toppled; a local star took a step back into the spotlight; and a young player showed off the grit underneath his glamour game.

Jasmine Paolini’s loss blows the women’s second quarter wide open

Halfway through this week of carnage, we may be getting desensitized to upsets. Paolini nearly won Wimbledon last year, was the No. 4 seed this year, and was coming off a joyous title run in Rome. Her opponent, Kamilla Rakhimova, was ranked 80th and lost her only previous match against Paolini in routine fashion.

But was anyone all that shocked that Rakhimova ended up the winner in three hard-fought sets, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4? Paolini, whatever her accomplishments and however well she’s playing, will always be vulnerable because of her height. And despite the difference in their rankings, Rakhimova played with little fear, coming back from a set down and gutting out a tight hold at 5-4 in the third.

“My attention was going up and down all the time,” a disappointed Paolini said.

While the result might not have been all that stunning, Paolini’s loss had the biggest ramifications of any upset so far. That’s because her quarter was already the softest of the four, and now that she and the second-highest seed, Zheng Qinwen, are out, it’s wide open.

By which I mean, one of these players will make the semifinals: Rakhimova, Noskova, Galfi, Anisimova, Parry, Kartal, Osaka or Pavlyuchenkova. The highest-seeded among them is Anisimova, while Osaka is the only one with a Grand Slam singles title to her name.

This is where see some of the pros and cons of carnage. On the minus side, we’ve lost a popular personality in Paolini, and a couple of other well-known names in Zheng and Jelena Ostapenko. On the plus side, every match means a little more now, because every player has a shot at making a Wimbledon semi.

Joao Fonseca shows he can win testy

Jenson Brooksby stepped up to the service line, but before he went into his motion, he stopped and took a second to applaud Fonseca with his racquet. Or mock-applaud him, I should say. Brooksby had just missed a forehand badly, and Fonseca had responded with a loud roar of self-approval.

“Well done,” Brooksby seemed to be saying with his sarcastic clapping, “I missed a forehand.”

It was that kind of second-round match: testy, with lots of “Come on!”s, fist-pumps aimed at the other side of the net, and long looks from one guy to the other. As annoyed as Brooksby was by Fonseca’s outburst, Fonseca looked equally annoyed when Brooksby roared even louder after winning the second set.

In that moment, with the match tied at one-set all, it seemed as if Brooksby, an aggressive competitor who is never out there to make friends, may have gotten under Fonseca’s skin, and into his head. Would the 18-year-old rookie be able to get him out? It was one of those matches that would be won between the ears as much as it would be with the racquet. Fonseca had the clear advantage in power and ball-striking, but sometimes you need more than that.

It didn’t take long for Fonseca to show that he had it. He took a bathroom break, reset, and put a quick halt to any Brooksby momentum by breaking him right away and running away with the third set 6-2. With 51 winners, he never let the American back into his head.

“It was very mental today,” Fonseca said. “Jensen, he’s a very smart person. He has very clean shots. So today was very mental.”

“Obviously I was nervous, but I knew to stay with a good posture and be positive that I could go point by point with my serve. Yeah, I did pretty well this. I'm serving well here in Wimbledon.”

Next for Fonseca is fellow South American Nicolas Jarry, who has looked formidable so far. Looming ahead, possibly, is a quarterfinal with Carlos Alcaraz.

For Fonseca, every match—testy or not—is a change to learn.

“I’m loving being on the tour, playing new tournaments, the big tournaments, playing against very good players, and evolving,” he said. “That’s the most important, evolve as a person, as an athlete.”

Emma Raducanu takes a step back toward the spotlight

Like any sporting public, the British can get a tad carried away when one of their own does well. Like the BBC commentator who said that, on Wednesday, Marketa Vondrousova didn’t play all that badly, “she just came up against a force of nature” in Emma Raducanu.

OK, Raducanu is a Grand Slam champion and a star, but I’m not sure I’ve ever thought of her as a “force of nature.”

What we can say for sure is that, four years after her still-stunning run to the US Open title, she’s going to get a chance to show what she can do against the world’s best, when she faces Aryna Sabalenka on Friday, presumably back on Centre Court.

Raducanu, with coach Mark Petchey in her corner, has improved in 2025; she started the season at No. 60 and is currently No. 40. She made the quarters in Miami and fourth round in Rome, and against Vondrousova—Wimbledon champion two years ago—she played with the kind of efficient aggression that took her to the Top 10, and twice into the second week at Wimbledon.

“I think that was one of the best matches I’ve played in a long time, which I’m very proud of,” Raducanu said. “At the same time, I didn’t feel like I was doing anything outrageous, which gives me a lot of confidence. I think I was just doing the basics very, very well.”

Raducanu has developed a slice backhand, but she knows that fortune favors the brave in pro tennis these days.

“I think what’s going to be the real difference for me to kind of get up to the top is going to be more the aggressive side. Against the top girls, you really need to have a weapon on serve and also from the back.”

Raducanu and Sabalenka have played once, at Indian Wells last year, and Sabalenka won 6-3, 7-5. Can the Brit pull off the biggest upset of all on Friday? The crowd will be with her, and, if Sabalenka has a weakness, it’s that she can get rattled by the conditions and atmosphere around her.

“Aryna, she’s No. 1 in the world for a reason,” Raducanu says. “You can’t really do nothing or give nothing balls to her. I’m going to have to be aggressive, but pick my moments.”

“I’m going to have to try and be creative.”