Ben Shelton needed just 71 seconds to finish off the job he had started against Rinky Hijikata after his second-round match was suspended with the American one game away from victory.
Ironically, the world No. 10 warmed up for over four times as long – five minutes – as the rest of the match lasted on Friday, having played two hours and 11 minutes on Thursday evening.
But he was all smiles on Friday afternoon, slamming three aces past his opponent and needing just four points to book his third-round spot – the other point was an unreturned second serve.
The ruthless display meant Shelton did not drop a single service game across the match, but he had three chances to break his opponent and wrap up the win on Thursday evening.
After going 40-0 up in what would be the penultimate game of the contest, Shelton let slip three match points and surrendered five points on the spin as Hijikata clung on to his Wimbledon survival for the evening.
Shelton apologised to the crowd for the protracted part two of his second-round win in his post-match interview.
“I’m sorry that you guys didn’t really get to see much tennis,” Shelton said. “No rallies but hopefully the rest of the matches today and hopefully in my match tomorrow you guys see a little bit more.
“I was hoping to maybe hit a few groundstrokes today! I might have to go to the practice courts. Overall, I couldn’t be more happy being in the third round of Wimbledon.
“I thought it was a great match, a clean match. I thought Rinky played really well. My shot-making was really hot last night, the crowd was in it with me.
“I’m not sure how many of you guys were in the crowd last night but thanks everybody for staying late and then coming back.”
Shelton will now face world No. 105 Marton Fucsovics, who came back to defeat Gael Monfils 6-4 1-6 4-6 7-6(5) 6-4 in the third round on Saturday.
