Brown’s Wimbledon fairytale halted by fired-up Troicki

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  • Viktor Troicki fired a jaw-dropping 59 winners against Dustin Brown.

    Viktor Troicki did what Rafael Nadal could not do two days earlier against the flamboyant Dustin Brown – he returned well and served even better to take out the German 6-4, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3 to reach the fourth round.

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    Brown’s fairytale Wimbledon came to an end at the hands of the Serbian No22 seed but the German-Jamaican qualifier leaves the All England Club as a fan favourite, having stolen the show with his huge win over Nadal on Centre Court in the second round on Thursday.

    “I'm happy with my tournament. When I came to quallies, someone would have said ‘sign here for beating Rafa, making second round and qualifying’, I would have signed that paper,” said the 30-year-old Brown, who is expected to move up from No102 to around No80 in the world when the new rankings comes out after Wimbledon

    “All credit to Vik (Troicki). He served too well for me today to be aggressive.”

    Troicki, who returned to tennis a year ago, right after Wimbledon, after serving a 12-month ban for refusing to take a doping test, was in phenomenal form against Brown as he fired a jaw-dropping 59 winners to just 13 unforced errors and dropped just 12 points on his first serve over the course of the four sets.

    “I felt good. I was confident before the match and I knew the key was to return well today, which I did and that’s why I played good. I served better than the other matches and those were two keys I had to do today, I did them well and that’s why I won,” said the 29-year-old, who next faces Canada’s Vasek Pospisil.

    “I was expecting the unexpected. He was coming up definitely with better shots, and was maybe playing with me, sometimes it looked funny but overall I take it like this. I was more consistent throughout the whole match, I think I had a lot more chances. I think I deserved to win at the end.

    “Definitely one of the most unusual players, especially on grass this game comes more effective.

    “I think Rafa had to return better in that match because Dustin is serving well but I think Rafa had to return more inside, he was always standing back and that’s what Dustin likes.”

    Despite the defeat, Brown says he can look back fondly on this tournament.

    He said: “It's been great. Obviously having the pleasure and being able to play on Centre Court and then to play a match like that, doesn't make a difference if I lost today or not, no one will ever be able to take that I way from me.”

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