Safiullin and Mochizuki eye Djokovic and Sinner after Wimbledon shocks
Qualifiers Roman Safiullin and Shintaro Mochizuki reached Wimbledon’s second week, setting up tests against Djokovic and Sinner after run-after-run upsets.
Roman Safiullin and Shintaro Mochizuki turned Wimbledon’s men’s draw upside down, and both men were still standing when the bracket reached its most familiar names. Safiullin, ranked world No. 132, beat 19-year-old João Fonseca 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the fourth round, while Mochizuki, ranked No. 151, outlasted Rafael Jodar 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-4 to reach the last 16 for the first time at a major.
Safiullin’s run carried the sharper edge because of how far he had fallen before arriving at the All England Club. A former world No. 36 and Wimbledon quarter-finalist in 2023, he cut short his 2025 season after the US Open because of a hip injury and had not won a tour-level match in 2026 before this tournament. He saved two match points against Andrey Rublev in the opening round, then beat Botic van de Zandschulp in five sets before handling Fonseca in straight sets on the way to the fourth round. Novak Djokovic, the seven-time Wimbledon champion, was the man standing in his way next.
Mochizuki’s path was equally unorthodox, starting with qualifying and then continuing through a draw that had already begun to tilt. The Japanese player beat Max Basing and Ethan Quinn in straight sets before his win over Jodar on Court 18, where he recovered after losing the opening set and closed out the match in four. He had no tour-level win in 2026 before Wimbledon, yet he became only the fourth Japanese man in the Open Era to reach a Grand Slam singles Round of 16, joining Kei Nishikori, Yoshihito Nishioka and Shuzo Matsuoka.
The deeper story is what those runs say about the men’s field beyond the marquee names. Jannik Sinner, the defending champion and world No. 1, advanced with a straight-sets win over Jenson Brooksby and said he still has “gap to gain” as he built into the tournament, while also labeling Mochizuki a very dangerous grass-court opponent because of his low ball. That is the tension left by Wimbledon’s second week: two qualifiers came through qualifying and then kept beating established names, not just by riding momentum but by exposing how quickly the top of the draw can be tested when preparation, form and grass-court habits do not align.
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