It was a tough outing and lasted a lot longer than he wanted, but Mardy Fish pulled it out and advanced to the third round of the Wimbledon Championships with a five-set victory over James Ward. Fish started off well, taking a rudimentary first set by a score of 6-3, but faltered in the second when he fell behind the Brit and dropped that one 7-5.
Fish struggled mightily with his first serve, and that's what hurt him the most. Ward has always been good returning, and Fish was reduced to a 51% on his first serves in, but he did with 79% of his first serve points, so when he was on, he was effective. He also had 33 unforced errors, five more than his opponent.
He did go on to win the third set 6-4, and but lost a tiebreak in the fourth set after seemingly having it in the bag. He was winning the fourth set but was broken by Ward and eventually dropped it 7-6 (7-3) Still, he rallied strong and bested Ward in the fifth set without much issue, taking it 6-3.
Fish will next take on David Goffin, who advanced after beating Jesse Levin 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3.
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