London, July 3
Andy Murray reached a fifth successive Wimbledon quarter-final on Tuesday, beating Croatian 16th seed Marin Cilic 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 as organisers scrambled to make up for lost time caused by heavy rain.
British fourth seed Murray will now attempt to go on to a fourth All England Club semi-final on the trot, but will first have to get past to Spain’s David Ferrer who beat former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.
Murray had led Queen’s Club winner Cilic, against whom he was defending a 5-1 career record, 7-5, 3-1 overnight when play was suspended due to Monday’s downpours.
Spanish seventh seed Ferrer reached his first Wimbledon quarter-final at the 10th time of asking on Tuesday when he swept past Argentina’s del Potro 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.
Roger Federer was off colour against Xavier Malisse and appeared on the verge of retiring with a sore back before claiming a 7-6 6-1 4-6 6-3 victory to stay on track for a record-equalling seventh Wimbledon title, while Novak Djokovic had little trouble beating fellow Serb Viktor Troicki.
The Swiss needed a lengthy injury time-out in the first set when he was barely moving, but returned to win the opening set tie-break and after a rain delay, and further treatment at the end of the third set, he found some fluency to reach the quarter-finals despite looking far from his best.
Top seed Djokovic, meanwhile, showcased his full armoury of shots as he sauntered into the quarter-finals with a 6-3 6-1 6-3 demolition of countryman Troicki.
He’ll next play Mikhail Youzhny, who beat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan in five sets. With grizzly grey skies encircling the All England Club, Serbia’s Djokovic brushed aside compatriot Troicki 6-3 6-1 6-3 in his third consecutive match under the cover of the Centre Court roof.
Philipp Kohlschreiber made it into the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time, ending US qualifier Brian Baker’s fairytale run in a straight sets win at Wimbledon on Tuesday.
The German 27th seed won 6-1, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 in an hour and 55 minutes on Court 12 and now faces either French fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or US 10th seed Mardy Fish in the last eight.
Maria Sharapova’s hopes of winning a second Wimbledon title were shattered as the world number one was comprehensively beaten 6-4 6-3 by Germany’s Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round.
Lisicki, who had complained about her second-round opponent Bojana Jovanovski’s grunting, was forced to endure Sharapova’s loud wails, but kept her concentration to break the French Open champion decisively in the 10th game of the first set.
She broke again early in the second and closed it out, converting her third match point with an ace, to set up a quarter-final against compatriot Angelique Kerber who crushed Belgium’s Kim Clijsters 6-1 6-1 in her final Wimbledon.
The other quarter-final in the top half of the draw will see Agnieszka Radwanska face Mario Kirilenko.
Third seeded Pole Radwanska booked her place in the last eight thanks to a 6-2 6-3 win over Camila Giorgi.
Russian 19th seed Kirilenko reached just her second Grand Slam quarter-final with a 6-1 6-7 6-3 triumph over China’s Shuai Peng.
Defending champion Petra Kvitova came back from a set and a break down to beat Italian Francesca Schiavone 4-6 7-5 6-1 in a rain-disrupted match.
Kvitova, who had not dropped a set in the first three rounds, will now face former champion Serena Williams.
The 21st seed Roberta Vinci was beaten 6-2 6-2 by unseeded Austrian Tamira Paszek, who won the warm-up tournament at Eastbourne, and Victoria Azarenka awaits after destroying Ana Ivanovic 6-1 6-0 on Centre Court in 62 minutes.
