LIAM BROADY dug deep to pull off the biggest Grand Slam win of his career – and gain Wimbledon revenge over 12th seed Diego Schwartzman.
The British No5 looked set to suffer the same fate as in his second round defeat by the Argentine 12 months ago as he trailed by two sets to one and was a break down in the fourth.
Liam Broady celebrated wildly as he beat Diego Schwartzman in five-set thriller
But Manchester City fan Broady found inner resolve to fight his way back into the contest by edging a tense tie-break in front of a rapt Court No3 crowd.
And he came up trumps in the decider to pull off his best-ever Slam giant-killing and reach the third round for the first time with a 6-2 4-6 0-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 win in three hours and 47 minutes.
It was a huge moment for Stockport lefty Broady, who greeted his second five set win of the week by dropping his racket, stretching his arms wide and pointing to his ears to drink in the acclaim.
He deserved it, too. Broady withstood a six deuce opening service game to break the Argentine twice, sealing the set with a powerful delivery down the middle.
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But after failing to take either of the two break points he carved out at the start of the second, Broady cracked as he served to stay in the set, hitting long on his opponent’s third opportunity to level the match.
That seemed set to be pivotal as Broady appeared to have run out of gas – with his Wimbledon campaign on the line.
He won just nine points as Schwartzman raced through the third before falling 3-0 down in the next.
Broady, though, roared with delight as his opponent went long to hand the initiative back and after squandering two set points in the breaker a weak shot by Schwartzman found the net to take it all the way.
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And as the pressure got to his opponent, Broady seized his moment, breaking in successive games and then sealing it at the first opportunity.
A thrilled Broady, who had to be called back to the courtside microphone after heading back towards the dressing rooms, quipped: “It was easy, wasn’t it?”
He added: “It’s an amazing feeling. I thought I was coming off court having lost in the second round again but the crowd were incredible.
“I changed the tactics because he was dominating on his backhand.
“Then again, he did that against Rafa (Nadal) so he certainly can against Liam Broady.
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“At times I was struggling. I was a bit scared coming into it because I knew it was going to hurt.
“But the adrenaline takes hold and you forget everything, hung in there and pulled of the biggest win of my career.”
