Wednesday means Men’s Quarter-Final matches in All England Club

Will take you for a quick ride what happened on Monday and will share some thoughts on the upcoming duels

(1) Novak Djokovic v (9) Marin Cilic

Djokovic survived a 5 set battle with Kevin Aderson, when he had to come back from 0-2. The last set of the match had to be played yesterday due to darkness.

“It was high-quality tennis. At times I was helpless with my return – it was very difficult to read his serve and he was very aggressive. I thought he played exceptionally well throughout the entire match. He was a very tough opponent.”
“I backed up and was passive. I was hanging in there, trying to stay calm, hitting strong and believing I can come back.” Still, he prevailed. “Coming back to win gives me great satisfaction and confidence for my next challenge,” he said.
This was one of the most difficult matches I’ve played at Wimbledon, at times it was hard to read his serve, I didn’t get many opportunities,’ said Djokovic.

‘I thought it was high quality. Coming back top win in five sets gives me great satisfaction and confidence for the next match. ‘It’s not something we commonly experience these kind of matches, Kevin might have deserved to win this match. It was good to play a bit more on the match court but it was far more than a simple workout.’

Anderson could have got the upper hand in the middle of the 5-th when he had 2 chances to break, but Novak was able to escape and later in the set at 5-all the South African made crucial 2 double fault to handle the break and although he had 0-30 while the Serb was serving for the match, Kevin couldn’t do much after.

The World No.1 now face Marin Cilic, rematch from last year and in the same phase of the tournament. Then Novak had to battle from 2-1 sets down to overcome the Croat.
Marin who survived the onslaught from John Isner, continued with a 4 set win over the surprising participant in the Last of 16 – Denis Kudla .

His serve has been firing, but still he makes far too many mistakes from the back of the court so far in the tournament. His level has been increasing and is good to see the US Open Champion getting better and better.
Novak leads the h2h 12-0 and had a good preparation for his matchup with the win over Anderson as their styles look alike, but still with last year’s 5 set battle between the two nothing is certain for a one way Djokovic win.

(4) Stan Wawrinka v (21) Richard Gasquet

Wawrinka hasn’t dropped a set so far in the competition and just defeated David Goffin to book his place among the top 4 and will face Richard Gasquet to continue his push for RG/Wimbledon double.
The tricky Belgian gave everything and was a point away in the second set TB and a break up in the 3rd set,to make things a bit mor enteresting,but just couldn’t sustain the highest level of play and the Swiss had all the answers when he was pushed to the limit

“Yeah, was a tough one. I’m really happy with the victory, especially in three sets,”

“I wasn’t moving great. I was a little bit soft in general. But I’m happy to get through. It’s an important victory for me.”

Gasquet vs Kyrgios match started to look similar at one point, especially with the French missing 2 MP in the 3rd set and was forced to be at his peak to close the match in a 4-th set intense Tie-breaker. He got his revenge from last year, when he missed 9 MP and lost a 5 setter to the Aussie.

Richard has picked up momentum, especially considering he came here only with 1 win on Grass this year, against Simone Bolleli in Queens Club. He seems relaxed and with lot of tricks under his sleeve can make things interesting. He had good preparation facing big server in last round and despite Wawrinka is not considered as one, his 1st delivery is quite demolishing and although he doesn’t make lot of aces, the unreturned serves are lot.

Stan won the last match between the two – in RG 2013, but they share 1 win apiece with Richard taking their first encounter in 2006 on Carpet in Paris .

Vasek Pospisil v (3) Andy Murray

Andy Murray overcame the big serving of Ivo Karlovic, including 29 aces, to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the eighth year in a row.

“I came up with some good lobs and passing shots. I just needed to keep him low,” Murray told BBC Sport.

“It was an incredibly difficult match. It was mentally tiring. Maybe not as tiring physically due to the points being so quick.

“You’ve always got to be ready to take your chances. It’s about getting the balance right and getting through. It wasn’t going to be the best tennis, it was about getting through.”

Vasek Pospisil is the story of the tournament so far and he shows incredibly high fitness level as well.

He has played three 5 set matches already and has been on the court for an amazing 18 hours so far,10 more than Andy. Worth to say that after Vasek beat Troicki in R4 on Monday coming from 2 sets down he was engaged in another thriller as with his partner Jack Sock lost to J.Murray/Peers 8-6 in the 5-th set. Combined time on court for that day alone – 6 hours and 8 minutes!

Murray leads the h2h 3-0 and hasn’t lost a set to his Canadian Opponent. With probable fatigue and a bit risky style of play, Pospisil will look to shorten the points which against the Scot is a good proposition of a disaster

(12) Gilles Simon v (2) Roger Federer

Seven-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer defeated the No. 20 seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 on Monday for a spot in the quarter-finals.

“It was a good match,” said Federer. “I got off to a good start and kept rolling. Maybe Roberto wasn’t at his very best. Midway through the second [set], he hurt himself. Still, he was out there and he was actually still moving okay, so I had to put him away, which I was able to do.”

In a surprising outcome Gilles Simon took only 2 hours to get pass Tomas Berdych in straight sets. He faced only 1 break point and was solid throughout.

“I had a good feeling from the start,” said Simon. “I felt he was struggling also to put his game in place, and I was really good at keeping him in the gray area. I felt he didn’t know what to do anymore on the court, and for me, it was really clear. So I was just so happy that it lasted [through] all the match.”

‘’I have never played Roger on grass, but he’s playing really well. I’ll just try to play the way I have been playing so far at Wimbledon.”

Federer leads the h2h 5-2, winning the last 5 after falling behind early in 2008. The Swiss has now reached the quarter-finals at the All England Club for the 13th time and it will be his 45th Grand Slam QF overall.