After warming up with defending champion Novak Djokovic, Korean rising star Duck Hee Lee was hopeful of replicating the defending champion’s title-winning form at SW19 on Wednesday but instead became one of several top seeds bundled out of the boys’ singles.
The No.2 seed was stunned by Finn Patrik Niklas-Salminen on a day that also saw No.4 seed Michael Mmoh, No.6 seed Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera and No.8 seed Viktor Durasovic exit the draw.
Hee Lee enjoyed a star-powered practice session with Djokovic ahead of his third-round match at the All England Club, but ultimately found himself outclassed by Niklas-Salminen 6-4, 6-0.
The right-hander was broken at 2-2 in the first set and never recovered, as Niklas-Salminen held the advantage to take out the opening set and steamroll his way through the second.
“I played really well, I felt really good on the court and everything worked according to the plan I had with my coach. It was one of the biggest wins of my career, so I’m really happy,” Niklas-Salminen said.
Competing in just his second grass court tournament – his debut was a forgettable first-round loss at Roehampton last week – the Finn has swiftly adapted to the surface to charge into the last eight.
Niklas-Salminen will next meet Roland Garros junior champion and No.7 seed Tommy Paul, who overcame Swiss Johan Nikles 6-3, 6-1 in just 40 minutes to set up the quarter-final clash.
“[Tommy] plays really good tennis, he has a lot of firepower in his game,” Niklas-Salminen said.
“He’s really aggressive, the biggest thing for me is just to do my best and perform as well as I can and stay aggressive, not let him control the match. It’s going to be a good match if we both play well.”
In the other major upset of the day, Alvaro Lopez San Martin continued his impressive grass-court debut with a 6-3, 7-6(5) win over in-form No.4 seed Michael Mmoh.
“I’m really happy, it was a really tough match but it was a good win. I served quite good and I improved my forehand a lot so it was a good match,” Lopez San Martin said.
The Spaniard “wanted to go home” just days ago after struggling to adapt to the grass surface, but has quickly found his feet to progress to the quarter-finals.
“It’s my first time, my first tournament [on grass]. I thought it would be difficult, but it’s not. The first day was terrible, I can’t hit a forehand and I want to go home, but now I’m feeling better and I like to play here,” he laughed.
No.1 seed Taylor Fritz continued his all-conquering run, easing to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Argentinean Franco Capalbo.
But No.8 seed Durasovic lost a three-set tussle with No.11 seed Yunseong Chung 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 and Barrios Vera went down 6-3, 6-2 to No.12 seed Mikael Ymer, on a day that saw four of the nine remaining boys’ seeds tumble.
In the girls' singles, British No.5 seed Katie Swan continued her run of form with her “lucky charm”, football legend Bob Wilson watching from the stands.
“Bob watched my first national title when I was 10 so my mum now says he’s my good-luck charm and that was proved again today,” Swan said.
After a nervous start Swan regrouped during a rain delay to take control of the match, running away with a 7-6(1), 6-2 win over No.9 seed Sofia Kenin.
The 16-year-old is one of just two seeds still left in the girls’ singles draw; she will be joined in the quarter-finals by No.12 seed Anna Blinkova, who ousted No.6 seed Usue Maitane Arconada 6-4, 6-3.
Elsewhere Belarusian Vera Lapko defeated No.10 seed and reigning Australian Open junior title-holder Tereza Mihalikova 6-2, 7-5, and Russian Sofya Zhuk dismissed No.11 seed Fanni Stollar 6-4, 6-1.
Briton Anna Brogan’s stellar run came to an end, going down to fellow wild card Anastasia Potapova 6-4, 6-4.