You don’t need to go to Wimbledon to see highly-paid stars making a racket.
Anderson defeats Bemelmans on Friday
The last time Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Sam Querrey battled at Wimbledon in 2014, they put on a marathon battle that lasted two days. Play was suspended at 9-9 in the fifth set before Tsonga came back to prevail 14-12.
Three years later, history will repeat itself. The 12th seed Tsonga and 24th seed Querrey will return to the court for a second day after their lengthy third-round match on Friday was suspended due to darkness. Tsonga will serve at 2-6, 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1, 5-6 when play resumes on Saturday.
Almost nothing separated the pair after two hours and 54 minutes of play. Tsonga hit 51 winners to 27 errors, while Querrey hit 52 winners to 27 errors. They’re also nearly identical on total points won, with Tsonga leading 149 to 141. The Frenchman leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head 4-1 and has won their past three matches.
The winner will take on Kevin Anderson, who put on a ruthless serving display to reach the second week over Belgian qualifier Ruben Bemelmans 7-6(3), 6-4, 7-6(3). The South African hammered 27 aces and didn’t face a break point to prevail in exactly two hours. Anderson matches his best result at Wimbledon, a pair of fourth-round finishes in 2014 and 2015.
His run this year comes as a mild surprise, though. The 31 year old arrived with a 13-11 record in main draw matches this year, although he has shown improved form over the past two months. Anderson reached the semi-finals in Estoril and quarter-finals in Geneva, in addition to posting a fourth-round showing at Roland Garros.
Querrey leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Anderson 7-5, while Tsonga has won all three of his previous meetings against the South African.
Police say Venus Williams was driving legally during the car crash that left an elderly man dead.
Fabio Fognini tries to challenge a call on set point, despite having no challenges left, and denies himself the chance to take his match with Andy Murray into a fifth set.
| Wimbledon 2017 on the BBC |
|---|
| Venue: All England Club Dates: 3-16 July Starts: 11:30 BST |
| Live: Coverage across BBC TV, BBC Radio and BBC Sport website with further coverage on Red Button, Connected TVs and app. Click for full times. |
Two-time champion Rafael Nadal is through to the last 16 of Wimbledon with a straight-set win over Russia’s Karen Khachanov.
Spanish fourth seed Nadal took the first set in just 21 minutes and eventually won 6-1 6-4 7-6 (7-3) on Centre Court.
Ninth seed Kei Nishikori is out after the Japanese lost in four sets to Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut.
Marin Cilic is also through after comfortably beating Steve Johnson.
Nadal broke the 21-year-old Khachanov’s serve three times in the first set as he completely dominated his opponent.
The second set was a tighter affair, with Khachanov finally holding his serve but still being broken in the third game.
Nadal had to save a set point in the third to force a tie-break, but the French Open champion triumphed in two hours and 14 minutes.
Victory means Nadal has not dropped a set in his past 10 Grand Slam matches, winning 28 completed sets in a row.
If he reaches the final then he will return to the top of the world rankings for the first time since June 2014.
“For a while I played fantastically,” Nadal told the BBC. “The first set and a half was a great, great level – then it was a little bit tougher.
“I’m happy about almost everything.”
The 31-year-old will play Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller in the fourth round, who earlier beat Britain’s Aljaz Bedene.
Nishikori lost 4-6 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 3-6 to 18th seed Bautista Agut in three hours and 21 minutes on court three.
Bautista Agut has never gone beyond the fourth round at a Grand Slam, while Nishikori is yet to go beyond the last 16 at Wimbledon.
Croatia’s seventh seed Cilic, who beat American Johnson 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 6-4, will face Bautista Agut in round four.
Play was suspended for bad light on court two with American Sam Querrey leading 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 6-5 on serve in the fifth set.
| Wimbledon 2017 on the BBC |
|---|
| Venue: All England Club Dates: 3-16 July Starts: 11:30 BST |
| Live: Coverage across BBC TV, BBC Radio and BBC Sport website with further coverage on Red Button, Connected TVs and app. Click for full times. |
Britain’s Wimbledon singles hopes were reduced to two players after Heather Watson and Aljaz Bedene both lost in the third round.
Watson, 25, went down 3-6 6-1 6-4 on Centre Court to Victoria Azarenka, the Belarusian making her Grand Slam return after giving birth in December.
Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller, the 16th seed, beat Bedene 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 6-4 on court two to reach the fourth round.
Andy Murray and Johanna Konta are also in action on Friday.
Four British players reached the third round of Wimbledon for the first time since 1997.
Bedene had high hopes of reaching the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time, but Muller’s grass-court pedigree proved too much for the British number four.
Muller is enjoying the best season of his career at 34 years old and went into the match with a 10-1 record on grass, including a win over Bedene last month.
The pair shared breaks of serve before Muller edged the tie-break, and he recovered from 2-0 down to take the second after breaking with a forehand winner.
Muller grabbed the decisive break at 3-2 in the third and ended the match with 19 aces and 21 winners at the net.
He will face two-time champion Rafael Nadal or Karen Khachanov in the last 16 on Monday.
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