Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek continued their surprise run on Monday at Wimbledon. After upsetting No. 10 seeds Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski in the opening round last week, they reached the quarter-finals by defeating sixth-seeded Croatians Nikola Mektic and Franko Skugor 7-6(5), 6-4, 7-6(3).

Dodig finished runner-up at this event in 2013 with Marcelo Melo (l. to Bryan/Bryan), but Polasek had never reached the last eight here. The 33-year-old Slovakian retired in 2013, but returned to action last year. He’s won five ATP Challenger Tour doubles titles in the past two months and was a finalist two weeks ago with Dodig at the Turkish Airlines Open Antalya (l. to Erlich/Sitak).

Next up for Dodig/Polasek are Marcus Daniell and Wesley Koolhof, who reached their first Wimbledon quarter-final over Santiago Gonzalez and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-4.

Fifth seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau advanced to the last eight via retirement over ninth-seeded Argentines Maximo Gonzalez and Horacio Zeballos 7-6(1), 3-6, 7-5, 4-3. The 2015 champions (d. Murray/Peers) will now face Roman Jebavy and Philipp Oswald or second-seeded Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

After a week of continuous buzz and bustle, the All England Club has gone silent — for one day, at least. Apart from organisers of The Championships, some machine operators and one section of the grounds, a small area of SW19 is mostly empty and eerily quiet.

It’s in Aorangi Park, which houses the practice courts, where the action is contained on the day that’s affectionately known as ‘Middle Sunday’. Here, former players can be found mingling with rising juniors; the professionals, who remain in the draw, are tweaking their game in hopes of advancing deeper into the tournament and ultimately lifting the trophy.

Ahead of the business end of the grass-court major, Francisco Roig has been working hard with Rafael Nadal, the two-time former champion. When their session is complete, Roig took time to discuss Nadal’s progress through the first three rounds at Wimbledon with ATPTour.com.

Kudos to Nadal for a solid showing against Tsonga
The match against [Jo-Wilfried] Tsonga was one of precision and controlled intensity. Rafa maintained a state of fluidity throughout, and it makes matters difficult for his opponents when he’s in that kind of groove. His return was on point and his serves were on target. Rafa is playing without any weaknesses; even Tsonga commented he wasn’t sure where to attack or what to do. If a player like Tsonga can’t figure out how to handle Rafa, that says something about his game. No one has found a solution.

“I feel like I have a lot more match play on grass than just three contests” — Nadal
Well put! I wasn’t aware he said that or even felt that way. He really seemed to be enjoying himself on the court during the match versus Tsonga. He wouldn’t say what he said if he wasn’t having a great time. Some matches are tougher than others; you don’t always emerge unscathed, even if you walk off the court with the win. In those circumstances, Rafa wouldn’t be as upbeat. All went according to plan on Saturday, though. He has a clear vision in his head of what he wants to do, and he’s been able to dictate play on his terms so far.

Nadal’s serve is clicking, and the results reflect that
We tweaked his stance a little bit; we’re trying to find a balance between getting the service just over the net at a higher success rate, while dropping the percentage of times he faults or lets by hitting the tape. We’re achieving the intended results by positioning his feet slightly differently. There was some doubt about the adjustments we made earlier in the year. At the Australian Open and during the clay-court season, we modified the start of his service motion. At Wimbledon, we’ve made alterations specific to grass-court play. We haven’t had much time to adapt to this surface, so comfort was key to the approach. It’s all about keeping Rafa calm, comfortable and in a position to generate power. We’ve been rehearsing and we’re happy with the results.

Nadal no longer looks out of place on grass
This is just another example of how Rafa believes he can take adjustments he’s made during training, then step on the court and put those adjustments to use. The better he’s prepared and the harder he works, the smoother things go during matches. Right now, Rafa feels he has everything covered; he doesn’t feel there are any cracks in his game. That reflects well on us as a team. He’s always going to have the skill; it’s about being ready for anything and having the right mindset going into any situation. This is especially so on grass but even on clay, there are moments when things aren’t going his way, but he can fall back on what he’s learned during training to carry him through. With all the work he’s done, I go into every match believing things will go Rafa’s way and that he can win.

Has this been one of Nadal’s toughest first weeks at Wimbledon?
In terms of opponents, yes. In previous years, he’s played [Karen] Khachanov [2017 third round], [Mikhail] Kukushkin [2018 first round] and Alex de Minaur [2018 third round]… all demanding matches, all before the fourth round. I think the fact that he played [Nick] Kyrgios so early this year overshadowed the fact he’s had tough early round matches in previous years. When he arrives healthy to Wimbledon, all he needs is a few days to prepare and he’s set for a good start to the tournament. It also allows us to set our sights on loftier goals later in the tournament.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal headline Last 16 action in the bottom half of the draw on manic Monday at The Championships with eight singles matches scheduled. Kei Nishikori, last year’s Wimbledon quarter-finalist, and 2017 semi-finalist Sam Querrey also feature.

Eight-time champion Federer, who is two match wins away from 100 victories at the All England Club, aims to reach his 17th Wimbledon quarter-final against No. 17 seed Matteo Berrettini of Italy on Centre Court. It will be a first-time FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.

Federer, who has compiled a 35-4 record on the season, admitted, “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. He played a bunch of finals at [ATP] 250 level, as well… I’m expecting a tough one… He’s young. I’m sure we’ll see a tough match on Monday I guess it is.”

The 23-year-old Berrettini, who beat No. 24 seed Diego Schwartzman over five sets in the third round, will be attempting to become the first Italian man – and fifth overall – to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 21 years. He would follow in the footsteps of Uberto de Morpurgo (1928), Nicola Pietrangeli (1955, 1960), Adriano Panatta (1979) and Davide Sanguinetti (1998).

Third seed Nadal, who has safely negotiated a route past Yuichi Sugita, Nick Kyrgios and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first three rounds, take a 2-0 lead against Joao Sousa of Portugal in their fourth round clash on Centre Court. Both Nadal and Federer have ATP Tour-leading 35 match wins in 2019 going into Monday’s play.

When asked about Sousa, Nadal said, “We know each other very well. Practised plenty of times together. He’s a player that when he’s winning matches, he’s a super dangerous opponent against everybody. He is very quick, very good physical performance. He’s aggressive with his shots, he’s going for the shots all the time.”

Read Feature: Five Things About Sousa

Nadal is bidding to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon title double in the same year for the third time and equal Bjorn Borg’s record. Additionally should Nadal, Roberto Bautista Agut and Fernando Verdasco, who play in the top half of the draw on Monday, all reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals here, it will be the first time that three Spanish men have reached the stage at the All England Club. 

Eighth-seeded Japanese star Nishikori, who was beaten by Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon quarter-finals last year, takes an 8-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan into their encounter. On Saturday, Nishikori recorded the 400th match win of his career over Steve Johnson in the third round, while Kukushkin will compete in the Last 16 of a Grand Slam championships for the first time since the 2012 Australian Open.

Read Exclusive Feature: Kuskushkin Harsh Road To The Top

In the first meeting between two Americans in the Last 16 or later at Wimbledon since Pete Sampras defeated Jan-Michael Gambill in the quarter-finals en route to his seventh trophy in 2000, Querrey challenges Tennys Sandgren for the first time. The 31-year-old Querrey, who has a 22-11 record in matches at Wimbledon, beat top seed Andy Murray en route to the 2017 semi-finals.

World No. 94 Sandgren, who reached the 2018 Australian Open quarter-finals, is attempting to become the lowest-ranked Wimbledon quarter-finals since No. 144 Kyrgios in 2014.

Read Feature: Sandgren Outlasts His Apartment Rental

ORDER OF PLAY – MONDAY, 8 JULY 2019

Centre Court start 13:00
[3] Rafael Nadal vs Joao Sousa
WTA match
[2] Roger Federer vs [17] Matteo Berrettini

No. 1 Court start 13:00
Two WTA matches
[1] Novak Djokovic vs Ugo Humbert

No. 2 Court start 11:00
Two WTA matches
[8] Kei Nishikori vs Mikhail Kukushkin

No. 3 Court start 11:00
WTA match
[21] David Goffin vs Fernando Verdasco
[15] Milos Raonic vs [26] Guido Pella

Court 12 start 11:00
WTA match
Sam Querrey vs Tennys Sandgren
[8] Henri Kontinen / John Peers vs [12] Rajeev Ram / Joe Salisbury
Mixed doubles match

Court 18 start 11:00
WTA match
[23] Roberto Bautista Agut vs [28] Benoit Paire
[7] Bob Bryan / Mike Bryan vs [11] Nicolas Mahut / Edouard Roger-Vasselin
Mixed doubles match

Click here to view the schedule for all other courts.

Odds are that if you outlast the duration of your accommodation rental, you’re probably having a pretty good tournament. And that has been the case for American Tennys Sandgren, who on Saturday defeated World No. 10 Fabio Fognini to reach the second round of Wimbledon for the first time.

The 27-year-old was more than happy to book a hotel room after his AirBnB’s rental expired.

“I was in an apartment. I actually moved yesterday. I ran out of my reservation because I didn’t want to overbook my stay. I’m not going to plan for the two-week experience,” Sandgren said, cracking a laugh. “So now I’m in a hotel and it’s good, it’s comfortable. As long as the weather stays cool, then my room will be cool and that’s a big deal. When the sun gets out and the room gets hot, it’s tough.”

This run was not the most expected for the World No. 94, who lost nine consecutive first-round tour-level matches entering the year’s third Grand Slam. That streak started after he claimed his first ATP Tour crown in January at Auckland.

“It’s exciting to be in the fourth round. I didn’t expect to really be in this position,” Sandgren said. “It’s been a tough few months. I’ve been playing some better tennis recently, but I had a tough stretch in there when I wasn’t winning many matches. So to feel like my game is coming together, and to feel like I’m playing well and actually things are falling my way, which hasn’t been the case, it feels good for sure.”

Sandgren’s two most recent first-round losses came after qualifying. And only four of those defeats came in straight sets. So although it was a tough stretch, he kept working hard so he would be ready to seize the moment when an opportunity to get back on track presented itself.

“The thing is, everybody’s really good. All these guys are incredibly good players and they’re all doing their best to be ready to play and to beat you on any given day, so to think you’re more deserving or that you’re going to win more matches because of X, Y or Z is sometimes unrealistic,” Sandgren said. “The fact that it just wasn’t going my way and I was losing a lot of close matches is disheartening, but I knew that if I stuck with it and kept working hard that it would turn for me and I would get out of that kind of season of defeat and hopefully have a week like this.

“It is very much a mental game. When you’re out there by yourself and there’s nowhere to turn, there’s no help, it’s just your game and how you’re feeling on the day and how you can keep it together. So it’s all on you and if it doesn’t go well, it’s easy to beat yourself up. But staying positive and keeping believing in yourself is a big facet in how you can ride those waves in a season.”

Sandgren won his first-round match in four sets against Yasutaka Uchiyama, and then battled past Fever-Tree Championships finalist Gilles Simon in a five-set thriller in which he converted nine of his 13 break point chances. Then against Fognini, freshly minted into the Top 10, Sandgren made only 18 unforced errors and won 70 per cent of his second-serve points.

“It’s been a great week so far. Finding my game as I go, starting to play some good tennis. Today was a very good match for me. I knew I had to play well because Fabio is an amazing player,” Sandgren said. “We had a really good second-set tie-break, 14/12. I think the match kind of hinged on that one. But yeah, felt good about my game.”

It’s not a new experience for Sandgren, who made last year’s Australian Open quarter-finals in his main draw debut. There, he beat then-World No. 8 Stan Wawrinka and then-World No. 5 Dominic Thiem.

“I have more experience than I did the last time when I was in this kind of situation. So I think it definitely helps me to at least know what to expect as far as nerves and to be ready for it,” Sandgren said. “The margins are so slim in these matches, so to have just a little bit more experience than I did the last time I think definitely helps me.”

An American man is guaranteed to reach the last eight at SW19, as Sandgren will play countryman Sam Querrey on Monday. Prior to Eastbourne last week, Querrey had not played since Houston due to an abdominal injury. But he made the final at that ATP 250 tournament, and has been broken just once at Wimbledon.

“Obviously he’s playing very well. I haven’t seen him play too much this week, but every time I walk by a TV with him on it, he’s hitting an ace, so I’m going to be ready for some big serves,” Sandgren said. “Excited for the opportunity for sure. I’ve never played Sam, but he’s a good friend, and it’ll be a lot of fun.”