Britain’s Andy Murray returns the ball en route to his win over South African Kevin Anderson at the Wimbledon Championships in London. (UPI)
Title holder Andy Murray neutralised the big-swinging game of lofty South African Kevin Anderson yesterday to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (6). The 27-year-old Briton returned sharply and drew the 6-foot-8 Anderson into rallies to impose his game on the Wimbledon grass where he is on a run of 17 successive victories.
World No.1 Novak Djokovic outplayed charismatic Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in a late match. The Serbian Djokovic will meet Croatia’s 26th seed Marin Cilic, who took advantgage of a drier interlude to beat Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 7-6(8), 6-4, 6-4.
Djokovic improved his winning record to 13-5 over Tsonga, including the 2011 last-four at Wimbledon as well as the quarter-finals of the 2012 Olympics which were also played at the All England Club.
Meanwhile, Anderson, a career-high 18th in the world, broke serve only once, after rain forced a pause for the Centre Court roof to be closed with Murray 3-0 up in the second set. He upped his game in the third set to force a tense tiebreak and even had a set point before the Scot won three points in a row to reach his seventh successive Wimbledon quarter-finals.
“When it was outdoors I played very well and was in a good position but when we came indoors he was striking the ball better and serving better and I was dropping shorter,” Murray said. “That meant there was a lot more running at the end because he was playing very well.”
It was the toughest match of the tournament for Murray who had dropped only 19 games on his way to the fourth round. The champion started in relaxed style, breaking Anderson’s booming serve in the third game and wrapping up the opening set in 43 minutes.
Looking supremely comfortable on the turf where he also won Olympic gold in 2012, Murray broke the South African twice early in the second set but the rain started to fall and organisers decided to close the roof.
The Scot, who always prefers playing in the elements, dropped his serve and two games later wobbled again to offer Anderson another break point.
Murray saved it but Anderson found a new confidence which he took into the third set, firing his 76th ace of the tournament to earn set point. The ice-cool Murray replied with a big serve, forced an error to earn match point and produced a backhand winner to progress to the last eight to the delight of a noisy crowd.
Murray next meets 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria for a place in the semi-finals. Dimitrov, nicknamed ‘Baby Fed’ for the similarity of his playing style to 17-times grand slam champion Roger Federer, extended his winning run on grass to nine matches with a plethora of eye-catching shots in his 6-4 7-6(6) 6-2 victory against Argentine Leonardo Mayer.
The 23-year-old Dimitrov is the first Bulgarian man to make the Wimbledon last-eight but has a 3-1 losing record to Murray.
Bouchard powers into
quarters, Wozniacki out
In the women’s, Canadian 20-year-old Eugenie Bouchard succeeded where Serena Williams failed as she beat Alize Cornet to reach the quarter-finals.
Frenchwoman Cornet caused a sensation on Saturday by removing five-times champion and pre-tournament favourite Williams, but the fresh-faced Bouchard proved to be made of sterner stuff as she edged to a 7-6(5), 7-5 victory.
“That’s cool. I didn’t know that,” Bouchard said of becoming the first Canadian to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals. “Another little historic thing for Canada.”
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova beat 16th seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 7-5 on a sixth match point to set up a quarter-final with fellow Czech Lucie Safarova who defeated compatriot Tereza Smitkova 6-0, 6-2.
The second Monday is traditionally a feast of top names, with the last 16 in both men’s and women’s singles being played, but organisers were playing catch-up this year with several third-round matches still to be completed due to rain.
Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, one of the victims of soggy Saturday when his match against Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin was cancelled, made up for lost time with a rapid 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win completed just before a heavy rain shower arrived.
Japan’s Kei Nishikori, the 10th seed, needed only four games to complete a 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 third-round victory over Simone Bolelli after their match had been suspended because of bad light at the weekend.
Earlier in the day, teenager Madison Keys had been forced to withdraw with a leg injury before resuming her third-round match against Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova. They were locked at 6-6 in the second set when darkness fell on Saturday, with Shvedova having won the opener.
Shvedova will play last year’s runner-up Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round after the German claimed a stop-go 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 victory over 11th seed Ana Ivanovic.
ROUND RESUlTS
prefix denotes seeding
Men: Round 4: 11-Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) beat Leonardo Mayer (Argentina) 6-4 7-6(6) 6-2; 3-Andy Murray (Britain) beat 20-Kevin Anderson (South Africa) 6-4 6-3 7-6(6); 26-Marin Cilic (Croatia) beat Jeremy Chardy (France) 7-6(8) 6-4 6-4; 1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat 14-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) 6-3 6-4 7-6(5).
Round 3: 19-Feliciano Lopez (Spain) beat 9-John Isner (U.S.) 6-7(8) 7-6(6) 7-6(3) 7-5; 5-Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) beat Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) 6-3 6-3 6-4; 10-Kei Nishikori (Japan) beat Simone Bolelli (Italy) 3-6 6-3 4-6 7-6(4) 6-4
Women’s: Round 4: 22-Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) beat 4-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) 6-3 6-0; 6-Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) beat Peng Shuai (China) 6-3 6-2; 13-Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) beat 25-Alize Cornet (France) 7-6(5) 7-5; Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (Czech Republic) beat 16-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 6-2 7-5; 23-Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) beat Tereza Smitkova (Czech Republic) 6-0 6-2
Round 3: 19-Sabine Lisicki (Germany) beat 11-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 6-4 3-6 6-1; Yaroslava Shvedova
(Kazakhstan) beat Madison Keys (U.S.) 7-6(7) 6-6
(Keys retired)