Querrey survives scary moments to down Djokovic

By Martyn Herman LONDON, July 2 (Reuters)

American Sam Querrey survived two scares to complete the biggest shock at this year’s Wimbledon by toppling Grand Slam-chasing Novak Djokovic in the third round on Saturday.Resuming two sets to the good after rain halted his unlikely victory charge on Friday, Querrey lost the opening five games on Court One as Djokovic came out firing.

That was the first scary moment.Then, amidst incredible tension when serving for the match at 6-5 in the fourth-set tiebreak, he gave world number one Djokovic a look at a second serve. That was the other one.It all worked out well in the end, though, as 28th seed Querrey won 7-6(6) 6-1 3-6 7-6(5) to become the first player to beat Djokovic in grand slam play since Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka in the 2014 French Open final.In doing so he destroyed Djokovic’s dream of emulating Rod Laver’s 1969 feat of winning all four slams in the same year.

“I lost the first four games and kind of went, ‘Oh no, this is going the wrong way quickly'” the laid-back 28-year-old Californian Querrey told reporters after losing a doubles with compatriot Steve Johnson, who also reached the singles last 16.”But, I actually felt pretty level-headed and steady the whole time. In the fourth set tiebreaker when I missed my serve at 6-5, I kind of went like, ‘Oh, crap.'”Fortunately I played a good second serve and he missed the forehand wide. That was it.”

Querrey was still second favourite when play began on Saturday, despite a commanding lead.After all, Djokovic had never lost to an American at Wimbledon and had not bowed out of a grand slam before the quarter-finals since losing in straight sets to Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round of the 2009 French Open.When Querrey went 4-0 down it looked ominous.A short rain break came to his rescue though and, while he lost the third set 6-3, the interruption gave the American time to remember what he had been doing the previous evening.

“I think going out I lost the first four games, and I think the rain delay helped me,” he said. “I got to regroup.”I broke back once in the third set which helped me gain back a little momentum for the fourth set.”Querrey saved 11 of 12 break points in the fourth set, broke Djokovic when the world number one was serving to level the match, and showed great composure in the tiebreak.It was Friday’s opening tiebreak that convinced Querrey he could win the match though.”Once I won that, I was like in my head, all right, I can beat this guy, I can hang with him and turn this into a match,” the world number 41, who banged down 31 aces, said.

After such a scalp it would be easy for Querrey to lose focus, but he wants to take full advantage of his victory.”Yeah, I mean, it’s definitely the biggest win I’ve ever had. It’s been a surreal day. But there’s another match after this. Hopefully I can keep it going, make a quarter-final of a slam, which I’ve never done before.”With Johnson already through to the fourth round where he faces Roger Federer and John Isner two sets to one up against Jo Wilfried Tsonga in the third round, the U.S. could have three men in the last 16 at Wimbledon for the first time since 2004.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman)

Raonic flattens Sock to reach round four

LONDON, July 2 (Reuters)

Milos Raonic hurled down a 143 mph thunderbolt serve, the fastest seen at Wimbledon this year, as he toppled American Jack Sock 7-6(2) 6-4 7-6(1) to reach the Wimbledon fourth round on Saturday.

The Canadian sixth seed fired 27 aces as he beat Sock for the eighth successive time to maintain his hopes of improving on his 2014 semi-final place at the All England club.Raonic’s path to the last four appeared to have got considerably easier on Saturday following the shock exit of the man he was seeded to meet in the quarter-finals.

But Raonic was not about to get distracted by the downfall of top seed Novak Djokovic, who had entered Wimbledon as the holder of all four grand slam titles, and kept his eye on the ball ahead of a meeting with Belgian 11th seed David Goffin.

“I’m happy with the way I was able to get it done in three sets and move on and give myself another challenge looking forward,” Raonic told reporters after reaching week two without dropping a set and having fired down 79 aces.

(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by Ed Osmond)

Murray into Djokovic-free second week after downing Millman

By Clare Lovell LONDON, July 2 (Reuters)

Andy Murray said players should celebrate Novak Djokovic’s achievement in winning so consistently over the last few years rather than being surprised that he was dumped out of Wimbledon on Saturday.

The top seed’s defeat by American Sam Querrey means Murray is the highest seed left in the draw going into the second week, but the world mumber two refused to consider his chances were improved by the shock exit of the man who beat him in both the Australian and French Open finals this year.

“Rather than it being a surprise, it should really be almost celebrated now, what he’s actually done. It’s incredible,” Murray told reporters.”He broke a number of records, winning all four slams, what was it? Thirty consecutive grand slam matches. It’s amazing.”Expectations for Djokovic to continue winning every match were unrealistic, Murray said.”History suggests that that’s not going to happen. There’s going to be a match, where maybe you don’t play your best and your opponent plays great tennis.”Murray was in the middle of a solid and largely straightforward 6-3 7-5 6-2 third-round victory over Australian John Millman when news came through of Querrey’s victory on Court One next door.

One of the partisan crowd’s biggest cheers during his win over the 67th-ranked Millman greeted the score flashing on the big screen.Murray’s composure faltered immediately and he dropped his serve, though he insisted he thought about the result only briefly.”Obviously, if you see a result or hear the fans, then you think about it. That’s natural,” he said.”But it wasn’t something that was going through my mind for more than 10, 15 seconds whilst I was sitting at a change of ends. Then you get on with it.The British 2013 Wimbledon champion got quickly back into his stride, however, and after he broke serve in a lengthy 11th game of the second set, he ran away with the match.

The All England Club was still buzzing with the Djokovic news, but Murray said he would feel no extra pressure.”If I were to reach the final, then it may have some bearing really, but it doesn’t right now,” he said.”My draw’s still exactly the same. The matches, in the next round especially, are tough. Nick and Feli are both very, very good grass court players.”Murray plays 21-year-old Australian Nick Kyrgios or experienced left-handed Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in the fourth round on Monday.

(Editing by Ed Osmond)

Old guy Federer thanks the luck of the draw

By Pritha Sarkar LONDON, July 2 (Reuters)

For a seven-times champion who is a month shy of his 35th birthday, and is known to have a dodgy back, fate could not have dealt Roger Federer a better hand this week as he became the first, and so far only, man to reach the Wimbledon fourth round.

With the rest of his rivals stranded in the second or third round following a week of weather mayhem, elegant executioner Federer ensured that he had the weekend off after dropping Dan Evans through the Wimbledon trap door on Friday.”I might take a day off tomorrow just because I can,” Federer said with a grin following his bloodless 6-4 6-2 6-2 victory.”I’m sorry … I have to take them when I can. I’m an old guy.”Forty eight hours after slaying world number 772 Marcus Willis, Federer claimed a second successive British scalp as he advanced to the second week of the grasscourt major for the 14th time.Evans, the once bad boy of British tennis, was on a roll this week as he had never before won a match at the All England Club, let alone two in a row.

But if Evans, the son on an electrician, harboured hopes of going deeper into the tournament, it was not long before the 17-times major champion pulled the plug on his dreams on a floodlit Centre Court.The Swiss third seed chalked up his 150th grasscourt win with an unreturnable serve.”I’m clearly very happy because, well, the goal was to get to the second week somehow. Now I’ve won nine straight sets, which is great,” said the Swiss, whose run of appearing in 65 consecutive grand slams ended when he had to sit out the French Open with a back injury.”I definitely got a bit lucky to play British guys, which put us on Centre Court,” added the Swiss after playing his second successive match under a closed roof.”So I’m the only guy in the fourth round, which is maybe a little bit of an advantage.”

Since being beaten by Tim Henman in the quarter-finals 15 years ago, Federer has now dropped only one set in six matches against Britons at the citadel of grasscourt tennis.While the rest of the players were left cursing their rotten luck, Federer was thankful he had managed to dodge the weather gods.”Tomorrow it’s relax, and Monday hopefully I’ll have great energy when I come back,” added the Swiss, who awaits the winner of the encounter between Grigor Dimitrov and Steve Johnson.

(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar; Editing by Alison Williams)

Saved by the rain, Djokovic’s hopes hanging by a thread

LONDON, July 1 (Reuters)

Novak Djokovic’s hopes of a calendar year grand slam were hanging by a thread as he slipped two sets down to big-serving American Sam Querrey before rain stopped their Wimbledon third- round clash on Friday.

On an infuriating day of rain delays, world number one Djokovic had to wait until nearly 7pm local time to walk out on Court One and little more than an hour later he walked off trailing 7-6(6) 6-1 to the 28th seed.Having lost the opening set on a tiebreak the 29-year-old Serb, who is on a 30-match winning streak in grand slams, looked all at sea in the second as Querrey took it in 22 minutes.

At that point a heavy rain shower sent the players scuttling off court and play was called off shortly afterwards.Defending champion Djokovic will return on Saturday hoping to repeat his comeback from two sets down against Kevin Anderson in last year’s fourth round, a match that also spanned two days.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)

Caution condemns Wawrinka to seeds’ scrapheap

By Pritha Sarkar LONDON, July 2 (Reuters)

A day after 18 seeds fell by the wayside at Wimbledon, Stan Wawrinka was under no illusions about why he joined the list on Friday — he had fallen victim to a serious bout of “hesitation”.

The world number four became the highest men’s seed to exit the grasscourt major after he failed to execute his gameplan against 165th-ranked Juan Martin del Potro, who is on the comeback trail after undergoing three wrist operations.”When I wanted to play aggressive, I was still hesitating a little bit,” twice grand slam champion Wawrinka said after being beaten 3-6 6-3 7-6(2) 6-3 by the Argentine.”I was a little bit slow to go to the net. When I wanted to put the ball in, I wasn’t clear with what I was doing.”I started to think a little bit too much what to do. That’s make the whole difference”If you start to hesitate with your game, if you start to not go completely with your plan, then it’s tough to play your best tennis.”

The battle between the two grand slam champions, one of 16 second-round matches to spill into Day Five of the rain-ravaged tournament, provided plenty of drama and intrigue but in the end it was Del Potro’s heart-warming comeback that had everyone cheering.”It’s great for tennis to see him back. He’s a great guy, he’s amazing player on the court. He’s a big champion,” said Wawrinka, who suffered his fourth defeat in six meetings against the 2009 U.S. Open champion.”He was so unlucky with all the injury he had for many years.”That unlucky break meant Del Potro had not played at Wimbledon since falling to Novak Djokovic in a thrilling five- setter in the 2013 semi-finals.

Having not experienced any grand slam action since the 2014 Australian Open, Del Potro will now have to see how his wrist holds up as the wretched weather in London has condemned him to playing best-of-five-set matches on successive days.”He’s coming back… I don’t know how he’s going to feel after playing almost three hours … on Centre (today), really physical, mentally also,” Wawrinka said.”You have to see how he is going to recover from that.”When you don’t play those big matches for few years, it’s tough to play back-to-back after that. So I hope he can recover and be ready for the next one.”No matter what French 32nd seed Lucas Pouille throws at him, Del Potro will be ready.”I don’t know if I will be tired or not because I just finished my biggest match after my comeback,” said the 27-year-old from Tandil.”But I will be ready for that challenge.”

(Editing by Ed Osmond)

Regal Murray hurries into round three

By Pritha Sarkar LONDON, June 30 (Reuters)

Andy Murray produced the kind of imperious form that has propelled him into two grand slam finals this year as he beat Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun 6-3 6-2 6-1 in the Wimbledon second round on Thursday.

Lu, the son of a chicken farmer, ruffled a few feathers on Centre Court when he jumped out to a 2-0 lead before extending it to 3-1 in the opening set.However, once Murray had levelled for 3-3, it did not take him long to clip his rival’s wings.From 3-2 up in the second set, Murray won seven games on the trot as Lu struggled to find a way to keep pace with Murray’s potent groundstrokes.A Lu double fault on match point allowed Murray to hurry off court for a royal audience with Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.

After huffing and puffing his way through five-setters in the first two rounds of the French Open, Murray was relieved that his start to the grasscourt major was much more serene.Six sets contested, six sets won.”It’s always difficult to know how close you are to being your best. But I was hitting the ball clean. I was happy with how I played,” said the world number two, who will next face Australian John Millman.Lu, affectionately known as Rendy on the tour, had handed Murray a chastening defeat in the first round of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.Since then, however, the man who beat Andy Roddick to reach the 2010 Wimbledon quarter-finals has failed to win a set against the Scot in four subsequent meetings.

On a comeback trail after being out of action for four months having undergone right elbow surgery in January, Lu had come into the match on an 11-match winning streak on grass after claiming two Challenger titles in the run up to Wimbledon.But despite the promising start against Murray, his luck quickly ran out.”I finished the match really well. Hopefully I start the next match like I finished this one. Yeah, keep it going,” said Murray, who turned up for his royal appointment having shaved off the scruffy stubble he had sported during his first-round match.

(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by Ed Osmond and Clare Lovell)

Nishikori survives scare to overpower Benneteau

By Pravin Char LONDON, June 30 (Reuters)

Japan’s Kei Nishikori survived an early scare before he dispatched buccaneering Frenchman Julien Benneteau 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-2 in the Wimbledon second round on Thursday.

The Centre Court crowd scented an upset when Benneteau came out all guns blazing, catching the fifth seed cold with a succession of blistering groundstrokes and artful drop shots.But after losing the first set, Nishikori gradually found his range and asserted his authority, pushing Benneteau back with relentlessly accurate drives on both wings.

With the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke of Kent watching from the Royal Box, the 26-year-old produced a suitably aristocratic performance to book his place in the third round.There have been concerns surrounding Nishikori’s fitness in recent weeks. He was forced to pull out of the Halle tournament in Germany because of a rib injury and coming into Wimbledon said he was not 100 percent yet.

“It was good. It was no problem today,” Nishikori told reporters. “I’ve been feeling good on grass. Little by little I’m getting more confidence.”My goal is to go to the quarter-final. That’s my first goal.”Benneteau, 34, might be encouraged by the fact he stretched one of the game’s elite players in the early stages of the match. He has sought to revive his career after a hernia injury and surgery ruled him out for much of last season and his ranking plunged from 25 to 547.

(Editing by Ed Osmond)

History man Djokovic aims to keep breaking records

By Pravin CharLONDON, June 29 (Reuters)

Novak Djokovic made tennis history at Wimbledon on Wednesday when he notched up the most consecutive grand slam match victories in the Open Era, and said he aimed to continue his assault on the record books.

The defending champion brushed past France’s Adrian Mannarino 6-4 6-3 7-6(5) to book his place in the third round. It was his 30th consecutive grand slam match win, beating Rod Laver’s record of 29 set in 1969-70.”I have to be very grateful to have the opportunity to make the history of the sport,” the world number one told reporters. “Knowing that I won 30 in a row, it’s very pleasing. I want to keep on going. Let’s see where it takes me.”Every single record that I managed to achieve in the last couple of years is important,” he added. “Every next one that I have a possibility to achieve is more motivation.”Djokovic last lost a slam match when he was defeated by Stan Wawrinka in the 2015 French Open final.

He now holds all four major titles, and has another historic mark in his sights.The 29-year-old Serb is aiming to become the first man since Laver in 1969 to achieve the calendar Grand Slam – winning the four major titles in a single season.Djokovic, seeking his third consecutive Wimbledon crown, played well within himself during the second-round match against Mannarino and was rarely troubled.

The Frenchman, ranked 55, put up spirited resistance in the third set to force a tiebreak but was ultimately swept off Centre Court by his opponent’s laser-guided groundstrokes.

(Reporting by Pravin Char; editing by John Stonestreet and Ken Ferris)

Federer plays cameo role to end Willis fairytale

By Martyn Herman LONDON, June 29 (Reuters)

Few players have reduced the great Roger Federer to a role as secondary attraction on Wimbledon’s Centre Court but for one hour and 25 minutes on Wednesday he had just a walk-on part in the Marcus Willis fairytale.

The seven-times champion enjoys too much deep-rooted affection at the All England Club to be cast as a real pantomime villain, but for once the cheers were all behind the 25-year-old local hero on the other side of the net.Federer’s 81st Wimbledon match, of course, ended in victory.Even the most over-egged Hollywood script could not have had him losing to world number 772 Willis, whose transformation from a 30 pounds ($40.30) an hour tennis coach to Wimbledon sensation has captured the imagination of the sporting world.But the swaggering Swiss was at least made to break sweat under the closed roof before claiming a 6-0 6-3 6-4 victory.

Willis had his photo taken with Federer, 34, before the warm-up and could hardly stop grinning.He even celebrated a practise serve with a raised fist as his friends went through their song-list at court side.But when Willis lost the opening set in 25 minutes without managing a game you feared the worst.

So when he did finally trouble the scoreboard, holding serve in the eighth game, the deafening roar rivalled the one heard when fellow Briton Andy Murray ended 77 years of pain by beating Novak Djokovic in the 2013 final.From then on the quirky left-hander’s unorthodox shots kept 17-times major champion Federer guessing at times, especially his grass-hugging backhand slices and cheeky drop volleys.

Federer joined in with some dazzling party pieces of his own but played largely within himself — smiling occasionally as Willis bathed in an unfamiliar spotlight.Afterwards he paid Willis the ultimate compliment.”I’ll remember most of the Centre Court matches here at Wimbledon, but this one will stand out because it’s that special and probably not going to happen again for me to play against a guy 770 in the world,” Federer told reporters.”The support he got, the great points he played. In some ways, I enjoyed it as much as I possibly could, but I also had to put my head down and focus hard to get the lead.”

Federer broke for a 5-2 lead in the second and closed it out two games later but was pushed harder in the third as Willis, who survived six qualifying rounds before stunning Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis in round one, kept his nose in front.Federer, moving well after missing the French Open with a back injury, looked a touch relieved when he broke at 4-4 in the third set, though, and claimed victory when Willis sliced a backhand long in the next game.”Today again, after the match, I just said he played great and I wished him the best for the rest of the year,” Federer said. “I said a few days ago, this story is gold.”

Willis, cheered on by his parents and his girlfriend who persuaded him to continue his professional career rather than coach in the U.S., walked off with his head held high.His mates sang “Shoes off, if you love Willis! — a bizarre chant they started when he was beating 54th ranked Berankis.”I have had a fantastic couple of weeks. I will keep going and do what I have been doing,” said Willis. “There is life after Wimbledon and I want more experiences like this. I’ve earned myself a beer now!”($1 = 0.7445 pounds)

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Ken Ferris and John Stonestreet)