PREVIEW Wimbledon Day Five: Aryna Sabalenka v Emma Raducanu takes Centre Stage

The Last 16 line-up will begin to take shape on Friday 4 July at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships with Aryna Sabalenka v Emma Raducanu set to take Centre Stage.

With Jack Draper now out, home hopes rest on Raducanu and Sonay Kartal and it could just be the latter come the end of Friday with Sabalenka likely a heavy favourite in the top tie on Friday.

The Centre Court billing on the 4th of July begins with Taylor Fritz, one of their top remaining hopes with the fifth seed set to take on Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

One of the best grass court players of recent weeks, Fritz finally gets his opportunity to take Centre Stage and will face the 26th seed Spaniard. It is 3-3 in their Head-to-Head ironically with a recent meeting.

That saw Fritz defeat Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the semi-final of Eastbourne. But earlier this year, ADF also sealed victory at the Delray Beach Open in a 7-6, 7-6 win.

Carlos Alcaraz continues in his role as the defending champion when he faces off against Jan-Lennard Struff. Alcaraz has a 3-1 Head-to-Head lead over Struff including the final of Madrid back in 2023.

Alcaraz saw off Oliver Tarvet pretty comfortable last round 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 and will be expected to reach the Last 16 of Wimbledon Championships pretty easily and ironically Fabio Fognini will likely be his biggest test en route to the latter stages.

Before finally Emma Raducanu will take Centre Stage. With Jack Draper now out, the former US Open champion can take the top Brit role. Albeit it will be a real uphill struggle to stop the favourite for the women's title.

Sabalenka has been imperious so far and the last time Raducanu faced her was in March last year at Indian Wells. She sealed a 6-3, 7-5 win over the Brit and the power game will likely be too much. But can Mark Petchey find the way to solve the game of the Belarusian who is somewhat unproven on grass?

But while Raducanu headlines on Centre Court, it is two more Brits on Court One. Sonay Kartal will begin proceedings against Diane Parry with a great opportunity to reach the Last 16 for the Brit who like alluded to could be the last one left.

Cameron Norrie also has a great tie as he faces off against Mattia Bellucci. Norrie saw off Frances Tiafoe last round and it'll likely be a simpler job this time around against the Italian. So it could be three Brits left or it could be one by the end of Thursday.

But by the time Raducanu plays, the fate of those two will be sealed. Elina Svitolina and Elise Mertens headline Court One in a matchup of two dark horses.

Svitolina has been superb at Wimbledon in the past, while Mertens has won a grass court title this year and is one of the only players remaining who won a title in recent weeks who is left.

There are also other top ties elsewhere as Naomi Osaka will take on Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to begin Court Two in one of the best ties of the year. Madison Keys then follows on as one of the only remaining seeds left in the women's top 10 of the draw.

Keys faces the tricky Laura Siegemund before Nicolas Jarry continues his run as a qualifier against Joao Fonseca who will likely have a big crowd in his first tilt at Wimbledon.

Elsewhere Amanda Anisimova who smashed through her first few rounds. She faces Dalma Galfi with another good opportunity to reach the Last 16.

Andrey Rublev v Adrian Mannarino are also on Court 3 with Karen Khachanov ending proceedings off against Nuno Borges. Some of the shock winners in the women's draw are also elsewhere with Solana Sierra, Kamilla Rakhimova among others also elsewhere who saw off Katie Boulter and Jasmine Paolini among others.