Sweet16

London, July 9

Roger Federer needed just 16 minutes to win the opening set in a 6-0 7-5 6-4 defeat of France’s Adrian Mannarino to reach his 16th Wimbledon quarterfinal on Monday.

Eight-time champion Federer will be playing in his 53rd Grand Slam last-8 when he takes on Kevin Anderson, who beat Frenchman Gael Monfils 7-6(4) 7-6(2) 5-7 7-6(4). Top seed Federer, 36, has now won 32 consecutive sets at Wimbledon, just two behind his record set from the third round in 2005 to his title triumph in 2006.

Federer boasts a 4-0 career record against Anderson and 9-4 over Monfils.  Monfils and Anderson have yet to get to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, although the French shotmaker may just be the slight favourite as he has a 5-0 winning record over the big South African.

Meanwhile, Rafa Nadal reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the first time since finishing runner-up in 2011, with a regulation 6-3 6-3 6-4 win over Czech Jiri Vesely in one hour and 53 minutes. 

18 in a row

Serena Williams raced into her 13th Wimbledon quarterfinal as the seven-time champion thrashed Russian qualifier Evgeniya Rodina 6-2 6-2 in just 62 minutes.  Williams is now on an 18-match winning streak at the All England Club.  She faces Italian world No. 52 Camila Giorgi next. 

Cibulkova reaches last-8

Dominika Cibulkova launched a scathing attack on Wimbledon’s officials after a line call controversy marred her 6-4, 6-1 win against Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei. Cibulkova was furious when Hsieh successfully persuaded the umpire to replay a point that was initially called in the Slovakian’s favour and would have given her three set points in the opening set. 

Hsieh’s protests to the umpire prompted the match referee to come on court to intervene as the argument lasted over seven minutes before the point was finally replayed, much to Cibulkova’s disgust.

Divij, Sitak in quarters 

Divij Sharan reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time as he combined with Artem Sitak to defeat Jonathan Erlich and Marcin Matkowski today. 

Sharan and New Zealand’s Sitak prevailed 1-6 6-7(3) 6-4 6-4 6-4 over the Isralei-Polish combination in a gruelling contest that lasted three hours and fifty minutes.  “It was a mental battle out there. Even though we lost the first two sets, we believed we could win,” said Sharan. — Agencies

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 No change despite World Cup timing clash

Wimbledon chiefs insisted again today that the men’s final will start at its traditional time despite it clashing with a potential England World Cup triumph.  The All England Club has come under increasing pressure to rethink its 2pm start time for Sunday’s men’s singles final with the football showpiece in Moscow kicking off at 4pm UK time. Should England defeat Croatia in Wednesday’s semifinal then the national team will feature in a World Cup final for the first time since lifting the trophy in 1966. “It is purely our decision to stay at 2pm. It will stay this year, it will stay next year,” said All England Club chief executive Richard Lewis. He added that there were no plans to show either Wednesday’s semifinal or Sunday’s final at the World Cup on Wimbledon’s giant TV screen attached to one of the sides of Court 1. Lewis has become exasperated by stories that the All England Club has been indifferent to the national wave of affection which has engulfed Gareth Southgate’s football team. “We have a very strong public wi-fi signal and it worked brilliantly on Saturday,” he said. “That indicates that we are supportive of the World Cup and that we are not turning down the signal strength!  We are a tennis tournament but we are aware that there is something special going on elsewhere.” — Reuters 

Results

Women: Julia Goerges bt Donna Vekic 6-3 6-2, Kiki Bertens bt Karolina Pliskova 6-3 7-6(1), Jelena Ostapenko bt Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-6(4) 6-0, Daria Kasatkina bt Alison Van Uytvanck 6-7(6) 6-3 6-2

Men: Kei Nishikori bt Ernests Gulbis 4-6 7-6(5) 7-6(10) 6-1, John Isner bt Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 7-6(8) 7-6(4), Milos Raonic bt Mackenzie McDonald 6-3 6-4 6-7(5) 6-2.

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