воскресенье, 29 июня 2014 г.

The Big Four are all still there as Wimbledon heads into its second week

Roger Federer has cruised through without dropping a set so far in SW19 Roger Federer has cruised through without dropping a set so far in SW19

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and of course Andy Murray. The big four are all still in play in the men's draw but in the ladies the top two are out. Alex Johnson rounds-up the latest from SW19.

Both the men's and women's draws look intriguing as Wimbledon prepares to enter its second week.

The men's defending champion Andy Murray is safely through to the fourth round, having been in impressive form on his return to SW19. He has beaten David Goffin, Blaz Rola and Roberto Bautista Agut all in straight sets and, in the round of 16, will face South African Kevin Anderson, the 20th seed who has never before gone beyond the third round at Wimbledon.

They will be joined in the last 16 by Novak Djokovic, last year's beaten finalist. The Serb has had a tricky first week, beating tough opponents in the shape of Andrey Golubev, Radek Stepanek and Gilles Simon.

The world number two survived a tumble in the third set of the Simon game and was forced to have a medical time-out, but recovered and, with a weekend's rest, will hope to be in peak condition to face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a potentially classic fourth-round encounter.

Grigor Dimitrov is the youngest player in the world top 20 and should break into the top 10 in the coming weeks. He came through a five-set thriller with Alexandr Dolgopolov on Friday night to make the second week for the first time at Wimbledon. He plays Leonardo Mayer on Monday for a place in the quarter finals.

Rafael Nadal booked his place in the fourth round thanks to his game with Mikhail Kukushkin being played under the Wimbledon centre court roof. Rain delayed play on the outside courts on Saturday, but Nadal was able to get his game completed and, after again dropping the first set, fought back to win in four. He next plays Nick Kyrgios who beat Richard Gasquet earlier in the tournament.

Roger Federer was another to play under the centre court roof on Saturday night and cruised to a straight sets win over Santiago Giraldo. The 17-time Grand Slam winner has been in good form, not having dropped a set so far this Wimbledon, and next faces Tommy Robredo after the Spaniard came through a five-set match with last year's semi-finalist Jerzy Janowicz.

However, though Nadal and Federer completed their matches on Saturday others, including Stan Wawrinka, Feliciano Lopez and John Isner did not get onto court and Wimbledon organisers have decided, to be fair to all the players, to hold the fourth round matches in the bottom half of the draw back until Tuesday. This means that Federer and Nadal could play matches on both Tuesday and Wednesday, while Wawrinka faces the prospect of five matches in seven days if he is to take the title.

In the women's draw the top two seeds are already out, both Serena Williams and Li Na leaving the tournament early. The American world number one was beaten in three sets by French ace Alize Cornet. It was her earliest Wimbledon exit since 2005 and, combines with early exits at the two previous Grand Slams this season.

Cornet will face Eugenie Bouchard on Monday; the Canadian coming through the third round in straight sets against Andrea Petkovic. At just 20, Bouchard, alongside Simona Halep, represents the younger generation set to dominate the game in the future. She reached the semi-finals at both the Australian and the French Opens earlier this year and, a similar run at Wimbledon would demonstrate she has the all-court game required to win Grand Slams in the future.

Maria Sharapova continues to progress well, reaching the fourth round without having dropped a set so far this Wimbledon. She faces Angelique Kerber in the fourth round and could meet Bouchard in the last eight.

Simona Halep, Agnieszka Radwanska, Petra Kvitova and Caroline Wozniacki all completed third round wins and will play fourth round matches on Monday for a place in the quarter finals.

However, Sabine Lisicki still has a third round match to complete. She won the first set against Ana Ivanovic but bad light suspended play and the players will return on Monday. Madison Keys and Yaroslava Shvedova also have a third round match to complete with Shvedova a set up and the players about to start a second set tie-break.

Комментариев нет:

Отправить комментарий