The others have all forgotten that it's Lawn Tennis

[Janik]

Another Women's top seed and expected contender bites the dust - Madison Keys beaten by qualifier Evgenia Rodina.

[Janik]

Monfils levels at one set all against Querrey. Can't blame Sam for that, Monfils doesn't exactly pat his first serve but he put over 90% in to play. That is good accuracy for someone who is spinning it in just as a rally starter. For a player who goes for it, that is an insane number.

[ad hoc]

Some epic sounding matches in the women's singles today. Venus just lost 8-6 in the final set and Goerges Strycova is at 9-8 currently

Edit 10-8 to Goerges

[Janik]

I wonder if Venus could somehow win the whole thing? Huge ask but...

To big an ask - she has just lost 8-6 in the third to Bertens. Kiki was a complete bag of nerves about getting over the finish line, perhaps unsurprisingly as she had never beaten a top 10 player on anything other than clay apparently. But it also appeared she was playing the history of Venus rather than the modern reality. In the end it needed a backhand dumped into the net by Venus to get Bertens through.

Serena, though, is currently two points away from edging through what has been a tough match with the other Kiki, Mladenovic. 4-5 deuce...

[Janik]

5-2 to Serena in the breaker. Mahoosive ace wide, more controlled speed ace wide and done. Must have dinner plans...

[ad hoc]

If Pliskova loses to Buzarnescu (and she's a set and a break down) Halep will be the only one of the top ten seeds left

[Janik]

I've now moved on to Pliskova-Buzarnescu as I'm assuming Federer will do this comfortably. Buzarnescu is winning, a set up and a break up and this is no fluke - Pliskova seems stumped about how to play it. However that isn't what I want to address. No I'm more intrigued by the title they are using for the Romanian, given Wimbledon's wildly outdated attitude of using the Women's honorific, Miss Williams for Venus and Mrs Williams for Serena. Well, the correct title for Buzarnescu is Dr. She should absolutely insist on it (she is currently being called Miss). It wouldn't just be a feminist point, it could be an advantage - she is a Doctor of Philosophy in Sports Science.

[Janik]

Pliskova has rather fortunately survived to a breaker.

[Janik]

The second point of the breaker (rather a good one) ends with a howl of delight from Pliskova and a simultaneous scream of frustration from Buzarnescu. Unusual for both players to shout at once.

[Janik]

And Pliskova levels. However like Bertens-Venus earlier (Bertens served for the match in set two), I think this is still very much in the balance. Like Bertens, Buzarnescu is too good a player, and too used to winning to fold.

[Janik]

Huh, Buzarnescu did rather collapse, sadly. Pliskova wins set three 6-1, a la the Dart match. Her easiest match was against Azarenka, which possibly notably, was the one she may not have expected herself to win straightforwardly.

The final game included the odd situation where a player challenges her own shot being called in, which only happens on first serves.

[Janik]

Just two games left tonight, Pella vs McDonald where the youngish American is a set and a break up, and Raonic vs Novak which got switched to court #12 due to the Women's games on #1 being tooth-and-nail, where the Austrian qualifier was an early break up but now it's back on serve.

[Janik]

This Dennis Novak bloke is quite useful. He has a big serve, just like Raonic, which is making each break very valuable. As they are now on an outside show court with smallish very open stands they should be able to play until gone 9:30 as there is nothing to block the evening light getting in. At least one set more should be doable, maybe two.

Mackenzie McDonald won the other R3 match. I assume he has been in college Tennis seeing as he is a completely new name on me at age 23. Anyone know anything about him?

[Janik]

Day 6 picks

Edmund [21] vs Djokovic [12] - 3rd on Centre
Kyrgios [15] vs Nishikori [24] - 3rd on #1
del Potro [5] vs Paire - 1st on #2
de Minaur vs Nadal [2] - 1st on Centre

The big match of the for the British sporting public takes place in the early evening... doesn’t it? Actually, I wonder how the Football will affect Kyle Edmund’s preparation. Only he will know how well he can compartmentalise. Novak Djokovic could probably tell him a thing or two about that, seeing as personal issues have clearly affected his game. Edmund beat Djokovic in their last meeting, but that was on clay, Kyle’s best surface and at a Masters Series rather than a Slam. He needs to adjust his game to repeat, coming to the net more when he has made a dent. Staying back on the baseline plays into a defender like Nole’s hands. Djokovic in three.
Nick Kyrgios vs Kei Nishikori is something of a contrast in on-court demeanours, less so in terms of style. The Aussie is not built for grinding in the same way that Nishikori can. That said the Japanese is far from a robot and knows how to ride a wave of emotion. This could and possibly should be the best match of the day, and one I find very hard to call.
Juan Martin del Potro versus Benoit Paire is similar to the game above, with Delpo as Nishikori, the emotionally level and more conventional player. Paire reportedly played very well to take down Shapovalov in the last round, and being a person who thrives on emotion will enjoy being on a biggish stage. If Paire finds his game it could turn into a very good match, but I doubt him doing so twice in a row and pick Delpo to hit his way through in four.
Alex de Minaur was the runner up at Junior Wimbledon to Dennis Shapovalov two years ago and is currently making the same breakthrough the Canadian has already essayed. Given his background, half-Aussie and half-Spanish one suspects he will be playing a personal hero when he takes on Rafa Nadal. He plays an all-court game and is clearly comfortable on grass with not just that Boys Singles final but also challenger titles at Surbiton and Nottingham this year. Nadal has been vulnerable at Wimbledon in recent years, but he looked exceptional so far and his experience should be enough to see him home here.


Halep [1] vs Hsieh - 1st on #1
Ostapenko [12] vs Diatchenko [Q] - 2nd on #3
Barty [17] vs Kasatkina [14] - 1st on #3
Kerber [11] vs Osaka [18] - 2nd on Centre

Hsieh Su-wei is probably the funkiest player on the WTA Tour with slices on both wings and unusual angles, and can prove an unexpectedly difficult opponent for pretty well anybody. There is no real way to prepare, and Simona Halep, top seed, World No.1, Slam champion that she is won’t be helped by not having played the Taiwanese for five years. Halep must remain in control of her emotions if she misses a few balls she would ordinarily expect to make early on in dealing with the odd spins. The new model Simona should cope though, and if she starts firing she should blow Hsieh away.
Blowing the opponent away is the only approach that Jelena Ostapenko knows. However it’s also the only method Maria Sharapova has, and qualifier Vitalia Diatchenko has already beaten her in this tournament... Ostapenko is a different kettle of fish, however. Her record at Wimbledon is strong, the Junior champion in 2014 and a QF showing last year. She will go for it again, and it should be enough.
The meeting of Ash Barty and Daria Kasatkina is their first professional confrontation and it could be the first of many as their respective ages are 22 and 21 and both are expected to remain at the top of the game for years. However there are very distinct contrasts in both approach and game style. Kasatkina tends to display her emotions and frustrations on court, often to her detriment. She also appears to be most effective on a clay court that gives her time to wind up for her strokes. Barty, by contrast, is impressively contained and able to put one point behind her and focus on the next. She is almost inscrutable, in fact. She also possesses a fine grass court game with a punchier serve than her short frame gives her any right to produce, and a willingness to slice, approach the net, use angles etc. She should win this, and is a proper dark horse to win the whole shooting match.
And finally we have Angie Kerber and Naomi Osaka. Again this provides a fascinating contrast of styles and personalities. Osaka plays huge, though recently there have been signs that she is developing and now knows the times when hitting at 100% isn’t actually the best option. But when she does, she possesses the power to punch holes in anyone, even a defender as good as Kerber. The German will have to do that well, and most importantly serve well if she wants to hold off her young challenger. I don’t think she will manage, and there will be talk of a new young star emerging after Osaka wins in two.

[ad hoc]

Simona loses 5 games in a row from 5-2 up in the third set to add to the cull of top seeds

[Janik]

The New Model Simo is possibly not so very different from the old version after all. I guess she was already making Slam Finals with the vulnerabilities. Pliskova the last top ten seed standing, but she is on Serena's side of the draw. I guess Ostapenko is now the favourite to make the final from the top half?

Rather surprised to see Barty has been beaten as well.

[Doraemon]

The football ended just moments before Kyle Edmund had to come on court. Good timing.

Pliskova only just scraped through yesterday, otherwise there wouldn't have been any top ten seeds left in the second week.

[Janik]

Djokovic in three.

Won't be that, first set to Edmund. Kyle played an extremely good set, and Novak was clearly out-of-sorts and struggling with his game and his head. However Kyle indubitably also got lucky, with a number of balls taking odd high hops in front of Nole or hitting lines and checking.

[Janik]

Djokovic had chance after chance in Edmund's second set service games, and eventually the pressure told with a double fault. Djokovic then got some luck with a net cord in serving the set out, which he clearly felt was only partially redressing the balance. The start of set three is big for Edmund. We've seen the situation many times when one of the Big Four plays two tight opening sets then accelerates away.

Gulbis is 5-2 up in Zverev in set four, so that is looking like another five setter for the German. Which will cause the Tournament Director a headache as Kyrgios-Nishikori was meant to follow. With a rest day tomorrow they will really want that done tonight, but that means shoving it on to an outside court. It looks like #2 is available.

[Janik]

Oh and a win for Russia! Khachanov comes back from two sets down to beat Tiafoe. The American was pretty injured by midway through set four apparently.

[Janik]

Zverev now in a heap of bother, trailing 3-0 but with two breaks of serve for Gulbis. Ernests is 4/5 converting break points in the match, to Sascha's 3/13. That sort of conversion ratio says Zverev is going to find it incredibly hard to claw this back from here.

[Jimski]

Is Zverev tanking in the final set then? Not watching it, but just seen the score.

I watched most of Nadal - de Minaur. It was a lot more competitive than the scoreline suggests. He looks like he might end up a very fine player, de Minaur.

[Janik]

Not even close, Gulbis wins set five 6-0.
Interesting tactics from Ernests, who was serving huge as expected but also drop shotting to draw Zverev forwards and chipping his forehands in a Ashe-like 'give him junk' approach, both of which thoroughly undermined Zverev's hitting. As for the German, that is another Slam gone past without him making the expected impact.

[Janik]

Is Zverev tanking in the final set then? Not watching it, but just seen the score.

It didn't look like he wasn't trying until he went down 0-5. Tired, maybe. Clutching his hamstring a little. Dispirited at the end, for sure. But mostly just completely stumped by facing an unusual approach.

[Janik]

Two controversial calls by the umpire in the last Edmund service game.
At 15-30 3-3 a Djokovic shot was called out and Edmund missed the subsequent ball. Djokovic challenged and the ball was in. The call was pretty well the same time as Edmund's shot, which would normally result in a replayed point for distraction, but the umpire ruled it hadn't effected Kyle's shot and awarded Nole the point. John McEnroe called it a 'horrible call by the umpire'.
It had nothing on what came next at 15-40, i.e. break point. Djokovic came into the net and played a drop shot. Edmund raced forward and seemingly picked it up for a counter drop cross court winner. However Djokovic wasn't happy and he had cause, as replays showed the point should have been his for four different reasons. The first and main one was Edmund didn't get there, it had bounced twice. Edmund also lost control of his racket which flew from his hand - that should be interference and point against. Thirdly either the flying racquet or Edmund may have touched the net before his shot bounced twice. And fourthly Edmund's (illegal) shot was out away!

However in the time it has taken me to write this Djokovic broke Edmund at 4-all and is now serving for the match. So justice will probably be served.