Follow The Athletic’s Wimbledon coverage.Welcome to the Wimbledon briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.On Day 3, Coco Gauff earned a fitting win, another player marked a milestone with some hotel issues and the event’s holdovers got things done.How did Coco Gauff mark a Wimbledon anniversary in the best — and hardest — way?Gauff won her second grass-court match in a row Wednesday, the first time she has done that since 2024. This one, a win that started comfortably, got seriously dicey and ended in relief on No. 1 Court at Wimbledon against Argentina’s Solana Sierra, marked another significant moment for the 22-year-old American.Gauff’s 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(7) triumph over Sierra came seven years to the day that she stunned the world as a 15-year-old on the very same court by beating Venus Williams, one of her tennis idols. Her mind drifts back to that magical day every time she walks down the hallway to the court entrance. She reminds herself if she could do it on that day, then she can do it on any day.Why is Wimbledon still played on grass?Tifo SportsOn a sunny afternoon in southwest London, she needed a couple of miracles and some cooperation from her opponent. Sierra, the world No. 56, came back from a set down, outplaying Gauff over most of the final two sets to come within two points of the win.She did it by following the playbook against Gauff on grass. Hit hard. Hit flat. Keep the ball low. Keep the targets big and the margins bigger, because on grass, rushing Gauff and forcing her to find a way to get her racket under the ball as it skids on the court is often as valuable as nailing the outside of a line. Sierra also crushed Gauff’s second serve for most of the afternoon, forcing her on defense.The tough thing for Gauff was that through two sets she had produced a performance that usually results in a win. She had landed more than half of her first serves and won more than 80 percent of those points. She had more winners than unforced errors. She had five aces against just two double faults. She won more points.But Sierra won enough both to knot the match and to come within inches of sealing it. She couldn’t serve out the win at 5-4 in the third set, and a twisting encounter came down to a deciding tiebreak. Sierra looked to have seized control in the middle with a backhand winner and a big serve that Gauff couldn’t get back, giving her a 7-4 lead. But then, after Gauff got the score to 7-7, she came up with a miraculous, block-flick backhand from behind the baseline for a winner on Sierra’s attempt to put away a limp drop shot.“Really that one came out of, like, my butt,” Gauff said afterward in a news conference. “Probably couldn’t recreate it if I wanted to, honestly.”Then came two big serves. The second was an ace, and with that, Gauff was screaming for joy. Maybe it wasn’t how she might have drawn it up, but big serves and quick reflexes can come in handy on grass if everything else is working — especially the charm of a monumental day.— Matt FuttermanHow do Grand Slam holdovers stay focused on their match?Frances Tiafoe has been playing fabulous tennis in the wake of a heartbreaking, five-set loss to Matteo Arnaldi in the fourth round of the French Open. He reached the quarterfinals of the Stuttgart Open, then claimed the biggest title of his career at the ATP 500 tournament in Halle less than two weeks later, defeating more than one top-10 player during a tournament for the first time in his career.But his focus and confidence were challenged anew Wednesday, when he had to return to Court No. 12 to resume his match against Térence Atmane of France. It had been suspended for light the night before, after Atmane stole the third set just as darkness fell. Tiafoe had a 2-1 set lead when it was called.He woke up and wrapped things up quickly, 7-6(6), 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. But Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam that has a curfew for darkness, so Tiafoe isn’t accustomed to playing a two-day match. He didn’t get much sleep Tuesday night.“You want to say it’s exactly the same, but obviously, it’s hard. You’re playing out in your head, like, wishing you got that done in straights, or should I have stopped earlier to not give up a set,” Tiafoe said in a news conference. “I just told myself to come out with a ton of energy today and be ready.”An energetic start is the best thing a player can bring to the situation, as the other two men who woke up Wednesday to win matches they started Tuesday can attest. Flavio Cobolli needed a fourth-set tiebreak and more than an hour to best Mariano Navone after a sluggish Wednesday start, but world No. 1o1 Alex Molčan began with a quick double break before beating Germany’s Daniel Altmaier in a tight 42 minutes.One thing is for certain: All three men should sleep much better tonight having secured their respective wins. On Wednesday, the matches between Rafael Jódar and Pablo Carreño Busta and Brandon Nakashima and Jan-Lennard Struff were paused for darkness. Time for a long night of the tennis soul — especially for American No. 28 seed Nakashima. If he wins the fifth set Thursday, he will end up playing five days in a row.— Ava WallaceWhat does a career milestone mean — for a player and for their sleeping arrangements?If a player becomes the world No. 1 as a junior and wins the Wimbledon girls’ title, then they probably qualify as an early bloomer.But if it then takes them 10 years to make the third round of a Grand Slam, they are probably as much of a late bloomer as can be in women’s tennis these days.This is the pathway that Claire Liu, a 26-year-old from California, has taken.“When I won Wimbledon, I was very much like, ‘I’m going to get to top hundred and everything’s going to be great,'” Liu said in an interview Wednesday after making the third round at a Grand Slam for the first time.“It hasn’t gone the way that I would ideally plan it, but I also think, like looking back, there were things that I definitely had to go through.”At this point, she figures she’s probably a late bloomer, but even that characterization feels slightly off. “When I try to put it in a box or label it, it kind of doesn’t give me any room to maneuver,” she said.Liu had more pressing logistical issues to think about. As of Wednesday morning, she didn’t have a hotel reservation in London for that night. This isn’t an uncommon problem in tennis. At last month’s French Open, qualifier Maja Chwalińska ran out of nights at her hotel and had to find new accommodations. Polish sports beverage company Oshee swooped in to put its compatriot up the rest of the way, which lasted until the final.At Wimbledon, Claire Liu reached the third round of a major for the first time. (Ray Tang / Anadolu via Getty Images)In Liu’s case, she had arrived in London for Wimbledon qualifying more than a week ago. She won three matches, then got through a first-round match against Hanne Vandewinkel of Belgium.That meant Liu faced Zeynep Sônmez of Turkey, who had upset No. 28 seed Ann Li, in the second round. Liu took care of her, 7-5, 6-3. Then she had to figure out where to sleep.The managers at her hotel told her they were overbooked. Liu said that as she packed her bags Wednesday morning, her boyfriend was telling her over and over that packing didn’t mean leaving. Still, she was hoping he might take care of the logistics after her win.“He’s a guy, so we’ll see,” she said, “But yeah, that would be nice if he could do that.”Liu is not sure why it took her this long to get this far, but she has an idea: She’s a planner. A life in pro tennis doesn’t generally allow for that.“Wrapping my head around that the fact that there is only so much you can control in tennis, and in life in general, took me a long time,” she said. “A few years ago, I was top 100 and almost top 50. I kept trying to control the narrative of like, ‘I’ll get to top 100, then top 50, and then this …’“Making it linear, when life isn’t like that.”Next up for Liu is Gauff.— FuttermanOther notable results on Day 3: