Brandon Nakashima may have been in unchartered territory at Wimbledon on Saturday, but the #NextGenATP American did not blink.
Nakashima backed up his second-round upset of 2021 semi-finalist Denis Shapovalov with a confident 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 against Daniel Elahi Galan. The 20-year-old had not won a match at the grass-court major prior to his first-round victory against Nicola Kuhn, but he is now the youngest American man to reach the Round of 16 at Wimbledon since Andy Roddick in 2003.
Nakashima joins Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, and Taylor Fritz in the fourth round. That represents the most American men in the last 16 at the All England Lawn Tennis Club since 1999, and the most to reach the fourth round at a major since the 2011 US Open.
Nakashima, who reached the semi-finals at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan last November, is into the fourth round of a major for the first time. The World No. 56 won 84 per cent (43/51) of points behind his first delivery and faced just one break point in his maiden ATP Head2Head meeting with the Colombian.
Nakashima faces a tough fourth-round assignment if he wants to extend his run at SW19 further — he next meets fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas or Nick Kyrgios.
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