Now that the dust has settled from the weekend, we have a bit of a clearer view of the favorites going into the second half of the Wimbledon fortnight. The Fourth of July weekend was kind to a host of Americans while the defending champ on the women’s side couldn’t make it out of the first weekend.
Biggest Upset
Petra Kvitova, the aforementioned defending Wimbledon champ, lost in three sets to former world number one Jelena Jankovic. Kvitova was up a set and a break before losing her form midway through the second set. The bottom half of the women’s draw is now even more wide open (3 seed Simona Halep lost in the first round) with Caroline Wozniacki (5) the lowest seed left.
Best Match
John Isner didn’t play another 11-hour marathon but his fourth round match against Marin Cilic did go the distance. The two tennis giants slugged it out for nearly four and a half hours on Saturday with Cilic pulling out a tight victory. It was a throwback match to the time of big serves and net play with the players combining for over 70 aces and nearly 100 points decided at the net.
The top four seeds on the men’s side (Djokovic, Federer, Murray and Wawrinka) are all still in contention but showed slight vulnerability over the weekend. Both Andy Murray and Roger Federer dropped their first sets of the tournament but never really looked like losing their respective matches. I expect all four men to advance to the quarterfinals.
Serena is still the odds on favorite to win on the women’s side but it may be time for another American, Madison Keys, to shine. She’s already into the quarterfinals after her win today, she resides on the decimated lower half of the draw and she has been playing the most consistent tennis of her career. Don’t be surprised if we get an all American final on Saturday.
What to watch for Day 7
Today is big day for both the men and women with everybody left in the field taking the court after they were able to squeeze in the final men’s match under the lights on Friday.
Monfils vs Simon about to resume in Centre Court at Wimbledon. @cbfowler with the best seat in the house. 👏🏼 pic.twitter.com/I4G7IsQEVU
— Darren Cahill (@darren_cahill) July 4, 2015
One Canadian and one American are still left on Men’s side of the draw but are not the names we are accustomed to hearing during the second week of a Grand Slam. The Canadian Vasek Pospisil (not Milos Raonic) is already into the quarterfinals with a win today over (22) Viktor Troicki, while the 22-year-old American Denis Kudla (not John Isner) is looking to improve upon his already best Grand Slam performance when he takes on Marin Cilic later today.
