Darkness interrupted Novak Djokovic’s bid to complete a comeback from two sets down for only the fourth time in his career last night, and the world No 1 will return to Court 1 today to face Kevin Anderson in their suspended last-16 clash.
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After falling behind 6-7 (6), 6-7 (6) to the huge-hitting Anderson – seeded No14 – Djokovic dug deep to fight back and took the next two sets 6-1, 6-4 to force a deciding fifth.
But the fading light forced umpire Carlos Bernardes to make the call of suspending the match until today with the fifth set yet to be played.
The last time Djokovic went two sets down at a grand slam was when he lost the US Open final to Andy Murray in 2012. He managed to come back from the same deficit and win against Andreas Seppi in the French Open fourth round in 2012.
Anderson, meanwhhile, is bidding to avoid becoming the first player in the Open Era to have reached the round of 16 at a grand slam seven times and never gone on to reach the quarter-finals.
Proper game of tennis going on on bbc2 right now. Djokovic up against it
— Matt Le Tissier (@mattletiss7) July 6, 2015
He climbed from 2-5 down in the second set tie-break playing some epic tennis, including a stunning volley winner in order to go two sets up. But the momentum swung Djokovic’s way and the defending champion gave out a Hulk-like roar when he took the next two sets to level the match.
The winner of the contest will take on US Open champion Marin Cilic who beat American Dennis Kudla 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals at the All England Club for a second straight year.
Andy Murray was another high seed tortured by a powerful server but the world No 3 withstood 29 aces from Ivo Karlovic to advance with a 7-6 (7), 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win in a three-hour three-minute contest on Centre Court and reach his eighth consecutive quarter-final at Wimbledon.
Murray hit 62 winners and committed just nine unforced errors against the 36-year-old Croatian and somehow managed to break his serve twice.
“I took a little bit off the first serve. I wasn’t serving as hard as usual to try and not allow him the opportunity to sort of go for huge returns or try to come to net off the second serve return. So I went for a high percentage of first serves,” said Murray of his tactical approach.
“I came up with some good lobs and passing shots. I just needed to keep him low. When I was in the rallies, I felt comfortable. But, yeah, against him, it’s a tactical match, but it’s tough. It’s quite stressful to play against him.”
Murray’s next opponent is Canadian Vasek Pospisil, who is thrilled to make his grand slam singles quarter-final debut despite having to go through 10 sets of tennis yesterday, five in singles to beat Viktor Troicki 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 and five in doubles (alongside Jack Sock) in a loss to Murray’s brother Jamie and his partner John Peers.
“Obviously I played a lot of tennis, but one day recovery is a lot. So I can sleep well tonight. Just have a full day of rest tomorrow. Do a lot of recovery and stuff. Then come out strong on Wednesday and take it to him,” said Pospisil.
Seven-time champion Roger Federer was untroubled against Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut, outclassing the No 20 seed – who needed medical treatment for a foot problem during the match – 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.
“It was nice to play a baseliner after two big servers (Sam Groth and Sam Querrey). I did a nice job making the transition. Clearly I felt I had more time on the return, still was able to play aggressive tennis,” said Federer, who next faces Wimbledon quarter-final debutant Gilles Simon.
“I’m happy to be back in the quarters here. This is really when it gets much more interesting because obviously your opponents are going to get tougher and tougher.”
Simon stunned No 6 seed and former runner-up Tomas Berdych with an easy 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 victory in a match that had a 15-minute interruption when a spectator collapsed in the stands and was stretchered off by medics.
For Simon it will be his first last-eight spot at a major since the 2009 Australian Open. Federer, who holds a 5-2 career record against the Frenchman, said: “I’m sure Gilles is happy to be in the quarters but I hope to stop that run now.”
The day got considerably weirder for Berdych when a journalist mistakenly congratulated him for his win and asked him how he felt about making the quarter-finals.
On appearing in the post-match press conference, the Czech was asked: “Do you feel in good shape going into the quarter-finals?”
“Is he trying to make fun of me?” asked a bemused Berdych.
