DAY 7: No tennis.
DAY 8: Gentlemen's Single 4th round.
DJOKOVICfaced as super aggressive Anderson that proved a lot more clutch than usual. In the first set breaker, it's the World N?1 who blinked with an untimely double fault and in the second set breaker, Anderson managed to recover from a poor start and shock a Djokovic who though he had the match leveled. Absolutely not amused by the situation, the serb raised his intensity, made more of these deep returns I expected him to make and cruised for a set and a half against a shaken south-african. Already a break down in the fourth, Anderson steadied the ship, served better and proved both aggressive and consistent in the rallies. Still, he could not break back. The match nicely poised at 2 sets all, play was called for the day. The crowd of court 1 screamed and shouted for the match to be completed under the lights of Center Court, like they did on Saturday with the Simon vs Monfils match, but, nope, play was adjourned (the move to Center on Saturday was exceptional, because you just can't play on sunday and the fourth round had to be played on Monday).
WAWRINKAplayed a poor, topsy-turvy match. A lot of unforced errors, erratic first serves, trademark backhand down the line AWOL... so he won in straight sets against Goffin! The Wawrinka of old would have lost that in straight, but today's double grand slam champion won that with an ugly 7-6 7-6 6-4
MURRAYfound himself in a tough battle against an inspired Karlovic. Somehow though, the scot wiggled his way through the first set to win it 9-7 in the breaker. Better even: he benefited from the hangover effect and broke Karlovic early in the 2nd. A set and break down after having played some stellar tennis who have been a huge downer for most, but Dr. Ivo kept at it and it paid late in the third where he managed to string enough booming 2nd serve returns and intimidating chip-and-charges to break the Murray serve and bag the set. Murray kept the hopes of the host nation alive though, by breaking the Karlovic serve a 2nd time late in the fourth. 7-6 6-4 5-7 6-4.
FEDERERran circles around Bautista Agut. The only suspenseful part of this match was the last game, where Federer was so willing to end with a flourish that he missed like 5 match points. In the end, the spaniard lost his serve and the match with an unforced error. 6-2 6-2 6-3.
SEEDICIDE WATCH: Troicki [22] was leading two sets to love against Pospisil, but matches are best of five for a reason. The young canadian won the next three sets and the match. 19 sets in 4 rounds! I guess he is lucky it's not the French Open! Simon [12] lead the head to head against Berdych [6] with a surprising 6 to 4. I guess the somewhat predictable play of the powerful czech suits the counter-punching tactician that is Simon. Today, the frenchman disgusted Berdych early and cruised to an easy 6-3 6-3 6-2 victory.
NOTABLE FACTS: Last year, Gasquet lost to Kyrgios after leading two sets to love and having 9 match points. So when he once again failed to convert in the 3rd set breaker after leading two sets to love, he turned his racket into firewood (well... you see what I mean, wooden racket is probably the only tradition Wimbledon does not enforce). He was very very close to find himself in a fifth set too, but, Kyrgios, after gifting the first set with a failed 2nd serve ace attempt on break point and not playing through the 2nd set because he got a warning for bad language, that genius Kygrios served another two double faults in the fourth set breaker, including another 2nd serve ace attempt when match point down. A fine line between bravery and foolishness. Not really notable, but since it's the only match not mentioned: Cilic beat last american Kudla in 4 sets.
QUARTER FINALS:
??? vs CILIC: I am really not sure of how well Cilic is playing at the moment. He reached the quarters, but, on paper, he only had the one match that should have been challenging (Isner) and he made it through by the skin of his teeth and lost another three sets against modest players. Still, when he gets the ball rolling, we have seen what he is capable of.
WAWRINKA vs GASQUET: Both guys turned pro in 2002. Both guys have been in the Top 30 for years. Yet, the faced each other just twice! Gasquet won with ease a 2006 meeting on carpet (!) and Wawrinka prevailed by the narrowest of margin on clay in 2013... Historically, Gasquet has been a lot more at ease on grass than the swiss, but the power Wawrinka can generate to bludgeon opponents off the court is really not that surface dependent... intriguing.
MURRAY vs POSPISIL: When he get his game going, Pospisil can be very dangerous, but Murray beat him three times, including twice this year.
FEDERER vs SIMON: When he emerged on the ATP Tour, it sounded Simon was Federer's kryptonite. But after two wins in 2008, the frenchman lost in the 5 following meetings. Still, three of these five Federer wins were extremely close matches. I guess it's Simon's consistency and very good defense that make things tough for Federer. Finding the right balance between patience and aggressiveness, between risk taking and percentage play, is a tough task against the frenchman when he is playing well. In theory, defending on grass is a lot tougher and should make things easier for Federer, but if he does not play a clean match, Simon will be ready to punish him for it.
