Wimbledon is again playing catch-up on Thursday after protesters and more rain caused delays on Wednesday.
British fans will have hopes for another Andy Murray classic on Centre Court as he plays fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas while three other home players are in singles action.
Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina headline the day’s action in the women’s tournament as organisers hope for better weather and no more disruption from activists.
Here, the PA news agency takes a look at Thursday’s action.
Playing catch-up
The inclement weather over the first three days has caused havoc with the scheduling.
While the likes of Iga Swiatek and Novak Djokovic are sat comfortably in the third round, there are 17 first-round matches across both the men’s and women’s draw still to be completed going into the fourth day of the tournament – when all second-round matches are usually completed.
That backlog is going to take a couple of days to clear and with the threat of more rain to come at the weekend, tournament officials will be wary of more scheduling headaches.
Match of the day
Murray will meet Tsitsipas in the second round and it has all the hallmarks of another evening thriller under the roof.
The two-time champion has specialised in such occasions over his rich history at the tournament and this will be a good test of where his game really is.
Tsitsipas had to play four sets of his fourth-round match on Wednesday, which could help Murray, but is one of the best players in the world.
If Murray is to win, there are sure to be some nails bitten first.
Stricter security
After there were two separate Just Stop Oil protests on Wednesday, where activists twice got on to Court 18 to throw orange confetti and jigsaw pieces, security looks set to be beefed up to prevent any more incidents.
Jigsaws were removed from sale in the onsite shop on Tuesday, but fans could now have to go through a more vigorous bag check when entering the grounds.
There could also be more security guards and police on show to protect the players and courts.
Brit watch
Five British players fell on Wednesday as Heather Watson, Arthur Fery, George Loffhagen, Jodie Burrage and Sonay Kartal all lost, but the home interest remains strong on Thursday.
Murray is not the only Briton on Centre Court as Liam Broady opens up proceedings against fourth seed Casper Ruud, while Katie Boulter will look to equal her best effort at Wimbledon by beating Viktoriya Tomova on Court 12 and reach round three.
Jan Choinski completes the British singles line-up when he takes on his former doubles partner Hubert Hurkacz in the opening match on Court 18.
Order of play
Centre Court
Liam Broady v Casper Ruud
Elena Rybakina v Alize Cornet
Andy Murray v Stefanos Tsitsipas
Court One
Alexander Zverev v Gijs Brouwer
Sloane Stephens v Donna Vekic
Jessica Pegula v Cristina Bucsa
Other Britons
Katie Boulter v Viktoriya Tomova (Court 12)
Jan Choinski v Hubert Hurkacz (Court 18)
Weather
Swiatek storms into Madrid Open quarter-finals by crushing Sorribes Tormo
Iga Swiatek continued her march towards back-to-back Madrid Open finals by crushing home favourite Sara Sorribes Tormo in straight sets in the last 16 on Monday.
The world number one – who lost to Aryna Sabalenka in last year's final – made a poor start as Sorribes Tormo surprisingly broke her serve in the opening game, but that only spurred her into action as she dominated from there.
Swiatek broke back immediately and reeled off 12 straight games to advance 6-1 6-0, going one better than her 6-1 6-1 win over Sorana Cirstea in the last 32.
On clay, Swiatek has now won nine of her 55 WTA 1000-level sets by 6-0, with that remarkable rate of 16.4 per cent being the highest of any player to have played 10 or more sets in the format's history (completed matches only).
Swiatek will face Beatriz Haddad Maia in the last eight on Tuesday, with the Brazilian upsetting Maria Sakkari 6-4 6-4 to reach her first quarter-final at the event.
Data Debrief: Swiatek unstoppable on clay?
Swiatek's meeting with Haddad Maia will represent her 14th quarter-final in 18 WTA events played on clay, meaning she has reached that stage on 77.8 per cent of her appearances on the surface.
Since the turn of the century, only two players have a higher rate of quarter-finals reached on clay – Martina Hingis (85.7 per cent, 12/14) and Justine Henin (80.6 per cent, 25/31).
Jabeur into Madrid Open quarter-finals with statement win over Ostapenko
Ons Jabeur cruised into the Madrid Open quarter-finals on Monday, spending just over an hour on court in a statement 6-0 6-4 win over ninth seed Jelena Ostapenko.
Jabeur, who won her first and so far only WTA 1000 title in Madrid in 2022 then missed last year's tournament through injury, made it nine wins in a row in the Spanish capital to book a last-eight meeting with either Coco Gauff or Madison Keys.
Eighth seed Jabeur only needed 68 minutes to see off the former French Open champion, not dropping a game in a 21-minute opener in which she won 88 per cent of first-serve points.
Ostapenko improved in the second set, breaking back immediately after losing serve in the opening game, but Jabeur got the crucial break to go 5-4 up before serving the contest out.
Data Debrief: Jabeur dominates on the clay
Jabeur's win sealed her third quarter-final appearance at a WTA 1000-level event on clay since 2020. Only world number one Iga Swiatek (four) has reached more during that span.
A dominant start did the trick for the Tunisian on Monday, as she became the first player to take an opening set 6-0 against a top-10 ranked player in Madrid since the 2021 final, when Aryna Sabalenka did so in her victory over Ashleigh Barty.
Alcaraz's pursuit for third straight Madrid Open crown continues
Carlos Alcaraz boosted his hopes of a third straight Madrid Open title as he comfortably beat Thiago Seyboth Wild to reach the fourth round on Sunday.
Back in his home country of Spain, Alcaraz eased to a 6-3 6-3 triumph to set up a fourth-round clash with Jan-Lennard Struff, whom he beat in last year's final.
The first six games of the opening set went to serve, but Alcaraz found a crucial break in the seventh and ninth games of the set to put him in pole position for victory, a lead he would not relinquish as he overcame being broken in the seventh game of the second set to seal his safe progression.
Holger Rune was a surprise casualty as the world number 12 was defeated 6-4 4-6 6-3 by Tallon Griekspoor, though world number eight Andrey Rublev eased through with a straight-sets win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Data Debrief
With his triumph over Seyboth Wild at the Madrid Open, Alcaraz has now won 93.3 per cent of his games at the tournament. That is the highest win percentage of any player with at least 10 games played in a single ATP-1000 event since the format was introduced in 1990.
Against Seyboth Wild, Alcaraz won 27 of his 31 first-serve points, also recording 19 winners to his opponent's 10 as he dominated the contest on his way to victory.
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