Taylor Fritz dealt with his opponent’s 153-mph serve — it was the fastest in Wimbledon history, but Fritz won the point — and an overnight suspension before the fifth set to finish off a 6-7 (6), 6-7 (8), 6-4, 7-6 (6), 6-4 first-round win over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard when they resumed Tuesday.

Not only did 2024 U.S. Open runner-up Fritz need to turn things around after dropping the opening two sets, but he was two points from defeat on a half-dozen occasions in the fourth-set tiebreaker Monday night.

“A really crazy match,” the No. 5-seeded Fritz said Tuesday after wrapping up the victory at No. 1 Court. “I thought it was about to be all over last night in the fourth-set tiebreaker. But he came back on me in the first two tiebreakers, so I thought maybe I had one in me. I’m super happy to get through it.”

After Fritz forced the fifth set on Monday at about 10:15 p.m., the match was suspended because there is a curfew at the All England Club that halts play at 11 p.m., and officials were concerned about finishing by that time. It was clear Fritz preferred to continue, but it wasn’t up to him.

“I mean, it’s obviously not ideal. I felt like if we weren’t going to have time to finish the fifth set, then absolutely I think it makes sense not to play the fifth set. But we were having sets about as long as you can possibly play sets, and they were still in the time frame that we had last night to play the fifth,” Fritz, a 27-year-old Southern California native who calls Rancho Palos Verdes home, said.

As it turned out, Fritz needed only 35 minutes Tuesday to get the job done in a contest that featured 66 total aces — 37 by Mpetshi Perricard, 29 by Fritz.

On the third point of the match Monday, Mpetshi Perricard — a 6-foot-8 Frenchman who is 21 — smacked a serve at 153 mph, eclipsing the old tournament best of 148 mph hit by Taylor Dent in 2010.

Fritz not only managed to get his racket on the ball and return it, but he eventually took that point with a forehand volley winner.

“The funny thing is, I always tell my coaches (when) they sometimes say maybe I should try to serve (into the) body ... (that) I think body serves are awful. I never win the point when I do it,” Fritz said. “And I sent the video (of the 153 mph serve) to my coach, saying: ‘There you go. He served the fastest serve in the history of Wimbledon right into my chest, and I won the point, so there’s your proof: Body serves are bad.’”

Also Tuesday:

Top-ranked Jannik Sinner got his Wimbledon campaign off to an ideal start by beating Luca Nardi 6-4, 6-3, 6-0 in an all-Italian matchup.

Third-seeded Alexander Zverev lost to 72nd-ranked Arthur Rinderknech 7-6 (3), 6-7 (8), 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4 in the first round in a match that was suspended overnight.

Rinderknech, a 29-year-old Frenchman, had only one other career victory at Wimbledon — that was last year.

No. 7 Lorenzo Musetti, a semifinalist at Wimbledon last year and at the French Open last month, was sent home by Nikoloz Basilashvili, a qualifier ranked 126th who only once has made it as far as the fourth round in his 31 previous Grand Slam tournaments.

No. 3 Jessica Pegula also was among those leaving. The American was the runner-up at last year’s U.S. Open and was coming off a grass-court title in Germany over the weekend, defeating Iga Swiatek in the final, yet didn’t pose much of a challenge to 116th-ranked Elisabetta Cocciaretto in a 6-2, 6-3 loss that lasted less than an hour.

Zheng Qinwen became the second top-five seed to lose in the first round when the Olympic gold medalist fell to Katerina Siniakova 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.

The 22-year-old Chinese player was the No. 5 seed.

Siniakova is a three-time doubles champion at the All England Club, including winning last year alongside Taylor Townsend.