Agencies
London, July 2: Novak Djokovic is fallible after all, as American powerhouse Sam Querrey proved in stunning fashion to stop the Serb’s seemingly unstoppable charge towards a calendar year Grand Slam at a rain-hit Wimbledon, Saturday.
The 28th seed boomed down 31 aces and repelled an attempted Djokovic comeback to win a third-round match that began the previous evening 7-6 (8-6), 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5).
There were no such problems for second seed Andy Murray though. The 2013 Wimbledon winner had no problems with the opposition or with the weather as he played on a closed Centre Court to trounce John Millman of Australia 6-3, 7-5, 6-2.
Top seed and defending champion Djokovic had trailed by two sets overnight after the Court One clash was stopped by rain Friday.
On resumption, the Serb halved the deficit and served for the fourth set at 5-4, only for Querrey to break back.
When yet another rain delay sent the players off court for an hour, Djokovic returned to hold serve but he never looked comfortable in the tie-break as Querrey went 6-4 ahead. One match point was saved but Djokovic shanked a forehand into the tramlines to end his 30-match winning streak in Grand Slam play – a run that meant he arrived at Wimbledon holding all four major titles.
“His game was brutal today (Saturday), especially his serve,” the 12-time Grand Slam champion told reporters. “Well done to Sam, he overpowered me.”
In other matches that could be completed on the day, Croatian Marin Cilic made short work of Slovak qualifier Lukas Lacko, to enter the pre-quarters with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win. He will now meet Japanese Kei Nishikori, a 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 winner over Andrey Kuznetsov.
Meanwhile in women’s singles the omens were starting to look rather promising for Simona Halep as she skipped into the Wimbledon fourth round with a 6-4 6-3 win over Dutch dangerwoman Kiki Bertens. In another women’s singles match Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber ground out a 7-6 (11-9), 6-1 win over unseeded fellow German Carina Witthoeft.
