Murray Wins, Thiem Ousted By Vesely On Catch-Up Day at Wimbledon; Federer, Djokovic Friday
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Andy Murray led the charge as players caught up with a full day of play without rain on Thursday at Wimbledon.
ADHEREL
The No. 2-seeded Murray overcame an early deficit to defeat Taiwan’s unseeded Lu Yen-Hsun 6-3, 6-2, 6-1. “Randy” Lu had earlier in his career beaten Murray at the Olympic games.
“The first set was tough — I went a break down,” said Murray, who righted the ship to turn a match that looked like a possible upset into a straight-set affair. “But I settled down at the end of that set and loosened up. I started hitting the ball a lot cleaner.”
No. 5 seed Kei Nishikori was another player who overcame early trouble to defeat French veteran Julien Benneteau from a set down 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.
“He began well, it wasn’t easy,” Nishikori told the BBC. “I started playing more aggressive and more solid, especially on the forehand. The rib [injury] 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.”
Nishikori later said, to paraphrase, ‘Don’t put your money on me.’
“My goal is to get to the quarterfinal,” he said. “That’s going to be my first goal. I’ve been feeling good on grass.”
Other Top 10 winners were No. 6 Milos Raonic defeating Italian Andreas Seppi 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-2; No. 7 Richard Gasquet coming from a set down to beat Spain’s Marcel Granollers 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-1; and No. 9 Marin Cilic defeating the Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-4.
Raonic afterwards had to explain to the media the travels of his coach John McEnroe between the player’s box and the commentary booth.
“He was there with me this morning, Raonic said. “Obviously he’s trying to be there as much as he can. It depends what kind of commentating schedule he gets that day. For the first round, it worked out. Today it didn’t because I believe he was calling the first two matches on Centre Court.”
Lower-seeded winners were No. 11 David Goffin, No. 14 Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 18 John Isner, No. 19 Bernard Tomic who beat Radu Albot in four, No. 27 Jack Sock who defeated Robin Haase in four, No. 28 Sam Querrey, No. 31 Joao Sousa, and No. 32 Lucas Pouille who won in four.
Seven seeds were sent home in upsets as Czech Jiri Vesely downed No. 8 Dominic Thiem 7-6(4), 7-6(5), 7-6(3); France’s Nicolas Mahut stunned No. 13 David Ferrer 6-1, 6-4, 6-3; Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov outlasted No. 16 Gilles Simon 6-3, 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-4; Slovak Lukas Lacko beat big-serving No. 23 seed Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4; Spain’s Albert Ramos upset No. 25 Viktor Troicki in five 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3; Aussie John Millman topped No. 26 Benoit Paire 7-6(5), 6-3, 4-6, 6-2; and Brit Daniel Evans defeated No. 30 Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-6(6), 6-4, 6-1.
The Brit Evans will next face Federer.
“It’s going to be a great, great experience,” said Evans on the celebrity of facing the GOAT. “I’ll enjoy every minute of it, whatever the score. It would be stupid to say it’s not a special occasion to play him. I just have to prepare myself as best I can and put to the back of my head that it’s Roger I’m playing. Go out and give it my best. I’m not going to go out there to be just another guy he rolls. I’m going to put up a good fight hopefully.”
Dimitrov, a Wimbledon semifinalist two years ago, said he lost focus in the third set against Simon before getting it back on track.
“I just thought, I gotta get it back,” the Bulgarian said. “As soon as I got my focus back, all was well…I got into his rhythm and that’s one of the worst things.”
Matches to look for on Friday include (4) Stan Wawrinka vs. Juan Martin del Potro, (3) Roger Federer vs. Brit Daniel Evans, (1) Novak Djokovic vs. (28) Sam Querrey, (6) Milos Raonic vs. (27) Jack Sock, (15) Nick Kyrgios vs. Dustin Brown, Grigor Dimitrov vs. Steve Johnson, and Nicolas Mahut vs. Pierre-Hughes Herbert in an all-French.
FRIDAY WIMBLEDON SCHEDULE
CENTRE COURT – 1:00PM
1. Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) v Stan Wawrinka (SUI) [4]
2. Serena Williams (USA) [1] v Christina McHale (USA)
3. Roger Federer (SUI) [3] v Daniel Evans (GBR)
NO.1 COURT – 1:00PM
1. Venus Williams (USA) [8] v Daria Kasatkina (RUS) [29]
2. Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] v Sam Querrey (USA) [28]
3. Jack Sock (USA) [27] v Milos Raonic (CAN) [6]
NO.2 COURT – 11:00AM
1. Nick Kyrgios (AUS) [15] v Dustin Brown (GER)
2. Petra Kvitova (CZE) [10] v Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)
3. Andrey Kuznetsov (RUS) v Kei Nishikori (JPN) [5]
4. Simona Halep (ROU) [5] v Kiki Bertens (NED) [26]
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