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Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had little trouble today handling their French opposition at Wimbledon.
Nadal was on first and all but destroyed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in well under two hours. Nadal never faced a single break point and lost only five points on his first serve. The two hadn’t met in a Slam in 11 years, and Tsonga probably wished that run would have last longer.
“I know I have been serving well. But for my side it’s not only about the serve,” said Nadal. “At the same time my shots from the baseline, the continuation after the serve, has been very well, playing aggressive, not many mistakes, being very precise.”
Nadal moves on to battle the noisy Joao Sousa who outlasted Dan Evans 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 in just under 4 hours. Sousa becomes the first Portuguese man to make the fourth round at Wimbledon.
“It’s important that after the tough draw, I was able to find a way to be in the second week. That gives me some positive feelings,” said Nadal. “Tomorrow is one more day off to practice. Not a big physically demanding today, so tomorrow is a day to keep working hard on some specific things.”
Federer was on next on Centre and he had a little tougher day but otherwise was untroubled in a 7-5, 6-2, 7-6(4) win over Australian Open semifinalist Lucas Pouille.
“I’m very happy how it’s going so far. I thought it was a good match with Lucas today,” Federer said. “Of course, I hope it’s going to take a special performance from somebody to stop me.
The Swiss will get his first look at rising Italian Matteo Berrettini on Monday. The 23-year-old Berrettini saved multiple match points to beat Diego Schwartzman 6-7(5), 7-6(2), 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 in 4 hours, 18 minutes.
Berrettini just won Stuttgart without dropping a serve.
“I don’t know him very well on top of it. So that makes it a bit more tricky, as well. I saw him play a little bit in Halle. Saw his run, of course, in Stuttgart. Now he’s backing it up here again. That’s not easy to do, especially when you’re sort of newer on the Tour,” Federer said. “I’m expecting a tough one. I hope he has no energy left after today. I’m sure he’ll recover. He’s young. I’m sure we’ll see a tough match on Monday.”
Two Americans will meet in the fourth round as Sam Querrey will meet Tennys Sandgren. After upsetting Dominic Thiem in the first round, Querrey has kept it rolling and today got through John Millman 7-6(3), 7-6(8), 6-3 behind 27 aces.
Sandgren reached his first Wimbledon four round upended Fabio Fognini 6-3, 7-6(12), 6-3. Fognini had multiple chances in the second but couldn’t convert.
Kei Nishikori eased past Steve Johnson 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 to win his 400th career match. His nice draw continues Monday against Mikhail Kukushkin who eliminated No. 33 seed Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-5.
MONDAY WIMBLEDON SCHEDULE
CENTRE COURT – 1:00PM
1. Joao Sousa v Rafael Nadal
2. Johanna Konta v Petra Kvitova
3. Matteo Berrettini v Roger Federer
NO.1 COURT – 1:00PM
1. Serena Williams v Carla Suarez Navarro
2. Simona Halep v Cori Gauff
3. Novak Djokovic v Ugo Humbert
NO.2 COURT – 11:00AM
1. Ashleigh Barty v Alison Riske
2. Karolina Muchova v Karolina Pliskova
3. Kei Nishikori v Mikhail Kukushkin
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