A total of 87 men’s and women’s first and second-round singles matches were scheduled today, and on a busy day Tsitsipas, the fifth seed, scored the day’s most dramatic victory in a deciding set tie-break.

The Greek player, who finished runner-up at this year’s Australian Open, was up against 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem of Austria, currently ranked number 90 in the world, as he continues his comeback from a wrist injury.

The first-round match resumed today, after being curtailed by yesterday’s rain, with Thiem having a set lead, before Tsitsipas took a one-sided second set tie-break to level the contest.

Tsitsipas raced through set three, before Thiem showed his fighting spirit to win set four on a tie-break.

The deciding set went all the way to a tie-break, which Tsitsipas edged to win a near four-hour match by a final scoreline of 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-7, 7-6, setting up a second-round match with Britain’s double Wimbledon champion Sir Andy Murray.

In the women’s draw, Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, the world number 36, took a big scalp as she recovered from being whitewashed in the first set to defeat eighth seed Maria Sakkari.

Greece’s Sakkari took the first set 6-0, before Kostyuk narrowly took the second 7-5, and completed the turnaround as she took the decider in the first-round match 6-2.  

Elsewhere play was disrupted twice on Court 18 by members of the Just Stop Oil protest group, who threw orange confetti and blue jigsaw pieces from a Wimbledon Centre Court View jigsaw puzzle box on to the court.

Two men and a woman were arrested following the incidents, on suspicion of aggravated trespass and criminal damage, and removed from the grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

Ballboys and ballgirls were seen picking up the confetti and puzzle pieces, with leafblowers also used, while according to BBC Sport the Wimbledon shop stopped selling jigsaws following the incidents.

Just Stop Oil are a group calling on the UK Government to halt all new licences and consents for oil, gas and coal, and have already disrupted sporting events including the Grand National and the World Snooker Championship.

On the court, in the men’s singles, defending champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia defeated Australia’s Jordan Thompson 6-3, 7-6, 7-5 in round two.

Neutral athlete and third seed Daniil Medvedev was pushed hard in his round one match by British wildcard Arthur Fery, before winning 7-5, 6-4, 6-3.

Sixth seed Holger Rune of Denmark overcame another British wildcard in George Loffhagen 7-6, 6-3, 6-2 in round one, while ninth seed Taylor Fritz of the United States survived a scare in a first-round match concluded today, beating Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann 6-4, 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.

In the women’s singles, top seed Iga Świątek of Poland cruised past Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo in round two 6-2, 6-0.

Double Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitová of the Czech Republic survived a scare in a match added to the Centre Court programme, as the ninth seed beat Italy’s Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 in their first-round match.

Meanwhile her compatriot Karolína Plíšková, the 2021 Wimbledon runner-up, suffered a shock 6-2, 6-3 loss to Serbia’s Natalija Stevanovic, the world number 225, in another first-round encounter.

First and second-round singles matches are due to continue tomorrow, while the men’s and women’s doubles competitions are set to get underway.