HighLights-Day Four at Wimbledon
- Slovakian qualifier Jana Cepelova caused a major upset as she beat the second seed Garbine Muguruza, who is looking to add the Wimbledon crown to her French Open title, in straight sets, in the shock of the tournament so far.
- Canada’s Milos Raonic, the men’s sixth seed, beat Andreas Seppi of Italy 7-6(5) 6-4 6-2 in the second round. He had to work out a bit in the first set but he cruised in the next two sets to win the match.
- Women’s 20th seed Sara Errani of Italy suffered a surprise second-round 7-6(4) 7-5 defeat at the hands of Alize Cornet of France.
- Men’s fifth seed Kei Nishikori from Japan produced 14 winners to take the second set 6-4 and even the match against Julien Benneteau after losing the first set 6-4. He finally won the match 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, raising his game and cruising though in the next 2 sets. It was an early scare for Nishikori but he held on. “He began well, it wasn’t easy,” Nishikori told the BBC as he came off court. “I started playing more aggressive and more solid, especially on the forehand. The rib wasn’t too bad. It’s a little bit sore still but I’m playing well. It hurts at times but it’s holding up well. I’m doing everything I can to recover, with the help of my team.”
- Determined Halep packs off Schiavone in a very quick 6-1, 6-1 match. She was ruthless and did not let Schiavone get into the match at all. “If you don’t play matches before coming here, you are a bit stressed that you are not prepared like official for competition,” Halep admitted. “But I had many days practising here, playing points. So I was ready to start the tournament.”
- American Keys was almost out but held on and won her match against Flipkens to reach third round. She lost the 2nd set but managed to keep calm and win the third one for a score 6-4 4-6 6-3.
- Evans sets up another British date for Federer. He beat Dologopolov in straight sets 7-6, 6-4, 6-1 to book a 3rd round clash with Federer. He is currently ranked 91 and he kept his cool to take it to Dolgopolov, he served brilliantly and he completely outplayed the Ukranian.
- Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov hit 18 winners on his way to claiming the second set 7-6(1) against men’s 16th seed Gilles Simon. The Frenchman lost the first set 6-3. And then he went on to win the 3rd set, but Dimitrov upped his game and won the 4th set quite easily.
- Japan’s Misaki Doi beat women’s 15th seed Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic 7-6(5) 6-3. Doi had a tough 1st set, fighting Pliskova off in a tiebreaker, but won it nevertheless. She cruised in the 2nd set to clinch the match.
- Greek Maria Sakkari fought back to win the second set 6-4 against five-times Wimbledon champion Venus Williams. The American won the first set 7-5. She lost the 2nd set 4-6, but raised her game to win the third set and the match.
- Ninth-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic hit 22 aces and 62 winners in his second-round win at Wimbledon on Thursday, beating the unseeded Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2 6-7(6) 6-4 6-4 in just under three hours. He powered though the match pretty convincingly.
- Men’s 11th seed David Goffin of Belgium cruised in a 6-4 6-0 6-3 victory over France’s Edouard Roger-Vasselin, bagelling him in the 2nd set.
- Germany’s Sabine Lisicki, the 2013 Wimbledon runner-up, dominated women’s 14th seed Samantha Stosur to win 6-4 6-2 against the Australian. Stosur did not look like her usual self and Lisicki was able to close out the match fairly easily.
- Netherland’s Kiki Bertens, the women’s 26th seed, moved into the third round after beating Mona Barthel of Germany 6-4 6-4. It was cruise control for the Dutch, wihout having faced a major challenge.
- Women’s 24th seed Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic came back to beat Estonian youngster Anett Kontaveit 4-6 6-4 6-4 and reach the second round. She lost the first set but raised her game to come back and win the next two.
- France’s Kristina Mladenovic, the women’s 31st seed, was beaten by Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-3 6-3. It was a little unexpected for Mladenovic to exit this early but Sasnovich easily outplayed her.
- Women’s 11th seed Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland eased past Thailand’s Luksika Kumkhum 6-4 6-2 to move into the second round.
- Germany’s Annika Beck fought valiantly to come back after losing the 1set set. She easily won the 2nd set, but was made to work hard in the 3rd set to beat Britain’s Heather Watson 3-6 6-0 12-10 in just under three hours to move into the next round.
- John Isner, the men’s 18th seed, beat 2006 Wimbledon semi-finalist Marcos Baghdatis 7-6(2) 7-6(5) 6-3 to move into the second round. Baghdatis was in good form after reaching quarterfinals of Halle and Aegon Open, but he was no match For Isner. There was a rain delay but Isner kept his focus and won the first 2 sets in tiebreaks. He closed out the 3rd set and the match with an easy 6-3 set.
- Men’s 32nd seed Lucas Pouille of France rallied past Romania’s Marius Copil 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-1 to move into the second round. He lost the 2nd set but re-focussed to win the 3rd and 4th sets easily and quickly, with a breadstick in the 4th.
- American Sloane Stephens, the women’s 18th seed, beat Peng Shuai of China 7-6(5) 6-2 to move into the second round. The 1st set went into a tiebreak but Stephens came out on top to win it. She then cruised in the 2nd set to win the match.
- Men’s 28th seed Sam Querrey of the United States overcame Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 6-4 6-3 6-2 to setup a third round clash with the top seed Djokovic.
- The local favourite Johanna Konta was upset by Eugenie Bouchard, who fought back and won the match in 3 gruelling sets. “That was my best performance of 2016,” said Bouchard after her 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 victory. “I feel she forced me to play my level and I’m proud of how I finished. Any short ball, any slower‑paced ball I gave her she would attack and give me no chance, which is what you have to expect against a top‑20 player. In the third set, I focused on trying not give her any of those balls.
- Dominic Thiem (Austria) v Jiri Vesely (Czech Republic) : Thiem was upset in 3 tiebreaks by Veseley. Both of them played an intensely pumping match where each would hold serve to force a tiebreak. Vesely won the match 7-6(4) 7-6(5) 7-6(3) in 2 hours 45 minutes to get rid of the 8th seed Thiem to advance to the 2nd round.
- Bernard Tomic (Australia) defeated Radu Albot (Moldova) 7-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3. Tomic survived a scare as he lost the 3rd set in a tiebreaker. But he regrouped and won the next set to clinch the match which finally completed in 2 hours 51 minutes. Tomic hit 66 winners to Albot’s 33, whereas his Unforced Errors were 54 as compared to Albot’s 21.
- Radwanska fought back and won against Konjuh in a thrilling 6-2 4-6 9-7 match. She won the 1st set easily, but lost the 2nd set. The third set saw both of them battle neck-to-neck, where finally it was Radwanska who prevailed. Though in the 3rd set Konjuh hurt her ankle and called for a trainer, she still kept playing valiantly despite the discomfort. Radwanska was able to capitalise and clinch the match to advance to the next round.
