Former finalist Tomas Berdych was hoping for more good fortune at this upside-down edition at Wimbledon after beating Kevin Anderson 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 on Saturday to reach the fourth round.
The 2010 runner-up to Rafael Nadal is to play for the quarterfinals on Monday against Bernard Tomic after the Australian knocked out ninth seed Richard Gasquet 7-6(7), 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(5).
No complaints
Berdych said that while he’s surprised the event is missing Roger Federer and Nadal because of early exits, he’s not complaining.
“I know how it is to beat Roger here,” he said of his 2010 quarterfinal. “It’s really nice. So that’s the sport. That’s how it is.” Argentine eighth seed Juan Martin del Potro advanced over Grega Zemlja 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-0 while Wimbledon tied the record for match retirements when Dutchman Igor Sijsling became number 13 so far.
Opponent Ivan Dodig (6-0, 6-1, 1-0) has now won two of his three matches by retirement.
Marathon man
Andreas Seppi completed a lucky seven sweep as he won his seventh consecutive five-set match. The unseeded Italian upset 13th-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan 3-6, 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-4.
Seppi’s seven overall was comprised victories at the Australian Open (twice), Davis Cup (once) and two each at the French Open and Wimbledon.
Russian Mikhail Youzhny is to line up against Andy Murray on Monday after booking his place over Serb Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.
Murray was in the Royal Box on his day off along with other British sportsmen from the 2012 London Olympics.
On the women’s side, last year’s finalist and fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska held off American Madison Keys 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, while two-time semifinalist Sabine Lisicki of Germany dismissed seventh seed Samantha Stosur 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
For the first time since 1998, Britain has a man and a woman in the second week after Laura Robson recovered from a set and 5-3 down to beat Marina Erakovic of New Zealand 1-6, 7-5, 6-3.
Meanwhile, Petra Kvitova avoided becoming the latest former champion to be knocked out in the first week at Wimbledon, rallying from a break down in the final set on Saturday to beat Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 and reach the fourth round.
The match had been halted on Friday with Makarova up 2-1 in the decider, but the eighth-seeded Kvitova broke right back when play resumed and won the next two games as well.
After losing her own serve, the Czech player broke again for a 5-3 lead and then converted her third match point with a forehand winner.
Another day
“It was another day for me,” Kvitova said. “I played really well. I should go for every point and play my game. So I played quite aggressively. That was the key.” Kvitova won Wimbledon in 2011 but has struggled to match that performance since and has slipped from second to eighth in the rankings.
She has a good chance of reaching her second final at the All England Club, however, having seen second-seeded Victoria Azarenka and former champion Maria Sharapova already eliminated on her side of the draw. “It's still so far away,” Kvitova said. “I'm the highest-ranked player (left) in my half, but there’s still a lot of great players over there.”
