Share

Murray ends Anderson's run

London - Defending champion Andy Murray has reached his seventh successive Wimbledon quarter-final on Monday with a straight sets demolition of Kevin Anderson under the Centre Court roof while torrential rain brought more chaos to his rivals.

Third-seeded Murray defeated the big-serving South African 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) with 11 aces and 49 winners and next faces Bulgarian 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov who reached his first Wimbledon quarter-final with a 6-4, 7-6 (8/6), 6-2 win over Argentina's Leonardo Mayer.

The 23-year-old Dimitrov is the first Bulgarian man to make the Wimbledon last-eight but has a 3-1 losing record to Murray.

"All the matches are tough, everyone in the quarter-finals of the slams is playing top tennis," said 27-year-old Murray.

"I have to concentrate on my side of the court and if I play well, I will make it tough for him."

Just as on Saturday, rain brought a lengthy stoppage in the afternoon with more than 30 matches -- doubles and juniors -- cancelled until Tuesday.

All last-16 men's and women's matches are traditionally played on the second Monday but seven will now take place 24 hours later instead.

Stan Wawrinka was stunned that he had to play his third round tie, one of Saturday's victims, on Monday in a scheduling nightmare which will force him to play five matches in seven days if he is to win the title.

The third-seeded Australian Open champion defeated Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the fourth round for the first time since 2009.

Wawrinka will now play his fourth round on Tuesday against 19th seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain who also waited until Monday to see off John Isner, the ninth seeded American, 6-7 (8/10), 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/3), 7-5.

Victory on Tuesday would mean a quarter-final on Wednesday before getting back on schedule for semi-final day on Friday and a potential final date on Sunday.

"I was disappointed. I was expecting them to move matches, move maybe juniors or doubles, to make my match or Isner/Lopez's match first on when they started at 17:00 or 18:00 again when it stop raining," said Wawrinka.

"But you cannot do anything. They do what they want and you just follow. They don't listen to the player. They just do what they think is good for them."

He added: "I was surprised because (after the rain) it was a perfect day to finish. They said for security reason, they didn't want to put our match on a small court. But (Kei) Nishikori (the 10th seed) was playing on small courts."

- US at new low -

In the remaining third round match to be completed, Nishikori saw off Italian lucky loser Simone Bolelli 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 after the pair had finished 3-3 in the decider on Saturday.

In his maiden last-16 appearance, Nishikori will face Canadian eighth seed Milos Raonic on Tuesday.

Isner's defeat to Lopez meant that no America man or woman had reached the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time since 1911.

Later Monday, top seed Novak Djokovic, the 2011 champion and runner-up to Murray 12 months ago, takes on flamboyant Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a semi-finalist in 2011 and 2012.

Djokovic has a 12-5 winning record over Tsonga, including the 2011 last-four at Wimbledon as well as the quarter-finals of the 2012 Olympics which were also played at the All England Club.

Djokovic or Tsonga will play Croatian 26th seed Marin Cilic for a place in the semi-finals.

Cilic reached the quarter-finals for the first time with a 7-6 (10/8), 6-4, 6-4 win over France's Jeremy Chardy.

Cilic, coached by 2001 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, missed the 2013 tournament before serving a six-month drugs ban.

"Last year I felt that I was in a pretty good form. I don't know if that comes with playing several years on grass, but year after year I was feeling better and better," said Cilic, who had defeated sixth seeded Tomas Berdych in the third round.

"Over here I think we had really good preparation week before Wimbledon, and it's paying off in the matches."

Wimbledon results on Monday, the seventh day of the 2014 championships at the All England Club (x denotes seeded player):

Men

Fourth round
Novak Djokovic (SRB x1) bt Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA x14) 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5)
Marin Cilic (CRO x26) bt Jeremy Chardy (FRA) 7-6 (10/8), 6-4, 6-4
Andy Murray (GBR x3) bt Kevin Anderson (RSA x20) 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6)
Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x11) bt Leonardo Mayer (ARG) 6-4, 7-6 (8/6), 6-2

Third round
Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI x5) bt Denis Istomin (UZB) 6-3, 6-3, 6-4
Feliciano Lopez (ESP x19) bt John Isner (USA x9) 6-7 (8/10), 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/3), 7-5
Kei Nishikori (JPN x10) bt Simone Bolelli (ITA) 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4

Women

Fourth round
Eugenie Bouchard (CAN x13) bt Alize Cornet (FRA x25) 7-6 (7/5), 7-5
Lucie Safarova (CZE x23) bt Tereza Smitkov (CZE) 6-0, 6-2
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS x22) bt Agnieszka Radwanska (POL x4) 6-3, 6-0
Petra Kvitova (CZE x6) bt Peng Shuai (CHN) 6-3, 6-2
Barbora Zhlavov Strcov (CZE) bt Caroline Wozniacki (DEN x16) 6-2, 7-5

Third round
Sabine Lisicki (GER x19) bt Ana Ivanovic (SRB x11) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) bt Madison Keys (USA) 7-6 (9/7), 6-6 - retired

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Voting Booth
Should Siya Kolisi keep the captaincy as the Springboks build towards their World Cup title defence in 2027?
Please select an option Oops! Something went wrong, please try again later.
Results
Yes! Siya will only be 36 at the next World Cup. He can make it!
26% - 1273 votes
No! I think the smart thing to do is start again with a younger skipper ...
29% - 1470 votes
I'd keep Siya captain for now, but look to have someone else for 2027.
45% - 2249 votes
Vote
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE