Serena Romps; Djokovic v Haas Headlines Massive Monday at Wimbledon

Son of crazy dad Bernard Tomic was the top upset-maker on Saturday at Wimbledon going into the Sunday day of rest, upsetting No. 9 seed Richard Gasquet 7-6(7), 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(5) to move into the fourth round.
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“I was very nervous but I couldn’t ask any more of myself,” said the 20-year-old Tomic, whose dad has been suspended from attending tour or slam events, much to his dismay. Tomic will next face No. 7 seed Tomas Berdych, a winner Sunday over No. 27 Kevin Anderson in four sets. “I’m happy with the way I’m going and hopefully I can keep it up.”

Other Top 10-seeded winners Sunday were No. 1 Novak Djokovic defeating No. 28 Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-2, 6-2; No. 4 David Ferrer grinding down No. 36 Alexandr Dolgopolov in five sets 6-7(6), 7-6(2), 2-6, 6-1, 6-2; and No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro wearing down Grega Zemlja 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-0.

Djokovic hit an amazing 38 winners to three unforced errors over the three short sets against the Frenchman Chardy, losing only six points on serve.

“It was a fantastic match,” Djokovic said. “I felt great from the start ’til the end. I had that super focus and tried to be out there every point and not allow him to come back in the match or to have any chances. I saw the stats that I won 100 percent of first serves and I served over 80 percent of serves in in the whole match. That was incredible for me. I enjoyed every moment of it, especially at the end…This kind of performance came in the right time for me.”

Del Potro in the third set fell running for a drop shot and came up gimpy.

“I will see the doctor, because I was going for the drop shot and I twisted my ankle,” del Potro said. “I hyper-extended my knee. It was really painful. I was a little scared at that moment.”

No. 13 Tommy Haas led the seeds outside the Top 10 with a four-set victory over unseeded Spaniard Feliciano “F-Lo” Lopez 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4, while No. 23 Andreas Seppi upset No. 12 Kei Nishikori in five 3-6, 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-4, and No. 20 Mikhail Youzhny continued his low-key movement through the draw, straight-setting Viktor Troicki.

Haas ended Lopez’s seven-match winning streak on grass this season.

“It was tough to read his first serve throughout the first set,” said Haas, who lost the first set before winning three straight. “I was very pleased about how I then started to pick up his serve throughout the match. I started serving better myself. It was a terrific match.”

Haas and Djokovic will next square off.

“It’s going to be a big challenge for both of us,” Djokovic said. “He loves playing on grass. He had a few great wins lately. He beat Roger [Federer] in the final of Halle last year. This season he has played great. He’s 35 years old and he’s been playing very close to the best tennis of his life, in my opinion.”

France’s Kenny De Schepper upset No. 22 Juan Monaco 6-4, 7-6(8), 6-4, while other unseeded players advancing were Poland’s Lukas Kubot upsetting No. 25 Benoit Paire 6-1, 6-3, 6-4; Fernando “Hot Sauce” Verdasco handled Ernests Gulbis 6-2, 6-4, 6-4; and Croat Ivan Dodig receiving a pass into the fourth round when Dutchman Igor Sijsling retired with the flu trailing 6-0, 6-1, 1-0.

All four Top 10 seeds in action on the women’s side won through on Saturday, with only world No. 1 Serena Williams having an easy time with a 6-2, 6-0 win over the 42-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan.

The first few games were tight in a match that was supposed to be a steamrolling — serving at break point in her second service game, the world No. 1 already had the tense I-could-start-crying-at-any-minute look on her face before eventually pulling away.

“I never thought I would play into my thirties, which is why I have so much respect for Kimiko. She is so fit and so good,” said Serena after recording her 34th straight singles victory. “I feel better physically now than I have in a long time. I try to play better with each match, so going into the second week there are a lot of things I would like to improve.”

Struggling to three-set wins were No. 4 Aggie Radwanska defeating Wimbledon first-timer Madison Keys 7-5, 4-6, 6-3; No. 6 Na Li edging No. 32 Klara Zakopalova for a lopsided 4-6, 6-0, 8-6 victory; and No. 8 Petra Kvitova finally defeating No. 25 Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 in a match resumed from the previous day.

Radwanska survived 67 winners from Keys.

“She was playing great tennis,” Radwanska said. “In the second set two easy mistakes cost me one set. So in the third set I had to really focus on my serve and take my chance when I got it. She didn’t put so many first serves in during that game, and there was my chance, and that’s why I won the set. She was serving unbelievable. When I had break points, a couple of times I couldn’t do anything.”

The American teen Keys will break into the Top 50 after beginning the year outside the Top 130.

“It’s just gotten better and better,” Keys said. “There has been a lot of improvement. The setbacks come and you work through them, and you work forward. I’m just really excited for the US Open Series and the US Open. Hopefully I can keep it up.”

Again thrilling British fans into the fourth round was unseeded Laura Robson, who rebounded from a first set pounding to defeat Marina Erakovic 1-6, 7-5, 6-3. For Robson it was all “pretty cool.”

“It’s now my second time in the second week of a Slam, so that’s pretty cool,” she said. “Except at the US Open I played on the Sunday, so it didn’t quite feel like a second week, and my brother said it didn’t count. But yeah, this time will be on the Monday, so that’s pretty cool.”

The former champ Kvitova, who won five of the six games in her match resumption Saturday to close it out, will next meet the Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro.

“I played her in Brisbane,” Kvitova said. “She’s quite a tricky opponent. She’s Spanish but she can play very well on grass. She has a great slice and she’s a very talented player. I’ll have to play my best.”

Other seeded winners on the day were No. 11 Roberta Vinci easing past No. 18 Dominika Cibulkova 6-1, 6-4; No. 23 Sabine Lisicki upsetting No. 14 Sam Stosur 4-6, 6-2, 6-1; and No. 17 Sloane Stephens winning the resumption of an ugly, tight third set over Petra Cetkovska 7-6(3), 0-6, 6-4.

Li and Vinci will next meet, with Li leading the career series 3-0.

“We’ve had so many years we haven’t played — the last time was a long time ago I think,” Li said. “And in the last two years both of us have improved a lot. And it’s a different surface. She’s always tough, and it’s going to be a tough match, so I just have to rally and fight as hard as I can on Monday.”

Also unseeded into the fourth round were Kaia Kanepi ending the run of American Alison Riske 6-2, 6-3; grasscourt specialist Tsvetana Pironkova outlasting Petra Martic 6-1, 4-6, 6-2; and Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig defeating Eva Birnerova 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in a match resumed from the previous day.

Sunday is an off day at Wimbledon, but matches will resume on Massive Monday when everyone will be in play:

(1) Serena Williams vs. (23) Sabine Lisicki

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (13) Tommy Haas

(2) Andy Murray vs. (20) Mikhail Youzhny

(4) Aggie Radwanska vs. Tsvetana Pironkova

(4) David Ferrer vs. Ivan Dodig

(6) Li Na vs. (11) Roberta Vinci

(7) Tomas Berdych vs. Bernard Tomic

(8) Petra Kvitova vs. Carla Suarez Navarro

(8) Juan Martin del Potro vs. (23) Andreas Seppi

(15) Marion Bartoli vs. Karin Knapp

(17) Sloane Stephens vs. Monica Puig

(20) Kirsten Flipkens vs. Flavia Pennetta

(24) Jerzy Janowicz vs. Jurgen Melzer

Laura Robson vs. Kaia Kanepi

Fernando Verdasco vs. Kenny De Schepper

Lukasz Kubot vs. Adrian Mannarino