On a start—and—stop day at Wimbledon, Andy Murray and Florian Mayer found enough time in between rain showers Tuesday to wrap up their suspended matches and reach the quarterfinals.
David Ferrer also advanced on Centre Court, where organizers again came under scrutiny for their use of the retractable roof as their decision to open it and then close it again caused the start of his match against Juan Martin del Potro to be delayed by about 40 minutes.
Murray reached the last eight for the fifth straight year by beating the 16th—seeded Marin Cilic 7—5, 6—2, 6—3 while Mayer ousted Richard Gasquet of France 6—3, 6—1, 3—6, 6—2. American qualifier Brian Baker’s remarkable run ended, though, with a 6—1, 7—6 (4), 6—3 loss to 27th—seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany.
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Rain had prevented five of the men’s fourth—round matches from being completed on Monday, and the weather continued to cause headaches as the start of play on outside courts was delayed by about 30 minutes because of light showers. When matches started, they were quickly halted again for another rain delay of about an hour.
“We stopped obviously a lot,” Murray said. “You’re always a little bit edgy when you come out after a rain delay when you have the momentum with you. You stop, and then you come back out, and it feels a bit like you start from scratch again. I needed to serve well today and I got a lot of free points that helped me out.”
Play on Centre Court didn’t even have time to start at all before the rain came. Organizers had closed the retractable roof because of earlier showers in the morning but then decided to open it during a dry spell just before Ferrer’s match against del Potro was set to start. When the showers then resumed, they promptly had to close it again and keep the players waiting.
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When the match started, Ferrer needed less than two hours to beat del Potro 6—3, 6—2, 6—3.
Murray’s match was halted Monday with the Briton leading 40—0 at 3—1 in the second set on Monday. He had time to play one point on Court 1 clinching that game before rain started falling again. One game later, the match was suspended again. After the second resumption, there was another slight break early in the third set as the players remained in their chairs for about five minutes under umbrellas as officials waited for a light shower to subside.
The Briton’s victory never looked in doubt though, and he served out the match to love when the Croat netted a backhand.
The 126th—ranked Baker was trying to become the third American qualifier to reach the quarterfinals at the All England Club. He was playing in Wimbledon’s main draw for the first time after being off the tour for more than five years because of a series of operations, including to his right elbow.
On Monday, top—ranked Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Mikhail Youzhny were the only men to complete their round of 16 matches.
The women’s quarterfinals were being played later Tuesday.