Wimbledon – Day 8 (4R)

Wimbledon distinguishes itself from other majors, inter alia as the only event, in which the 4th round is played during one day, it happens due to day-off on the first Sunday of the tournament.
Amazing match, and very untypical for nowadays standards (serve and volley from both ends) on Court No. 3 won Feliciano Lopez [44], surviving a 5-set thriller with a qualifier Lukasz Kubot. The Pole [93] had a chance of his life to win this match in three different sets. In the 3rd set tie-break, Lopez’s challenge deprived Kubot a 4:1 lead. A couple minutes later Q-bot had a match point on serve at 6:5 and played a tentative backhand volley, Lopez passed him with a huge forehand. At 6:7 Lopez saved the second match point with a forehand winner at the net. In the 4th set Q-bot led 4:3 with a break, later on squandered three mini-match points at 5:5. Finally, in the 5th set Q-bot had a break point at 3:3 – Lopez served an ace (28 in total, Kubot 27 – personal best). The Spaniard converted his third match point after Kubot’s forehand error and advanced for the third time to the Wimbledon quarterfinals, for the fourth time winning a Wimbledon match from a match point down, which I suppose might be a specific record taking into account a Grand Slam tournament #.
Mardy Fish [9] adds to his resume Wimbledon as third different major quarter-final. The highest ranked American, despite a suitable game-style for grass, had never played even the fourth round at Wimbledon in his previous eight appearances. Today he ousted the last year’s finalist Tomas Berdych [7] 7-6, 6-4, 6-4, thanks to brilliant service performance (22 aces, faced two break points). It was their first encounter, although they’ve been playing on the tour together for eight years!
Bernard Tomic dismissed Xavier Malisse [42] in straight sets (81 minutes) on Court No. 18, facing just two break points, and becomes the 7th player in the Open era to play in quarterfinals at Wimbledon ##. It’s incredibly promising stats for him because among those six guys, only Vijay Amritraj hasn’t won the Wimbledon title! Tomic hasn’t lost a service game in 8 consecutive sets, this streak will be extremely tough to keep in the next round where awaits Novak Djokovic [2] after a 3x ‘6-3’ win over Michael Llodra [35]. After a set and a half there was a prospect that Llodra would give D’Joke a run for his money, but played a pathetic game at 3:3 (30-15): missed an easy overhead followed by simple volley-error, later on served two double faults in a row… “I never thought I’d be here the second week, especially in the quarter-finals. What a feeling and what a tournament it’s been for me. It’s an unbelievable achievement. I’ve learnt a lot. It’s a great honour to do it here in Wimbledon. I’m at a position now where I’ve never been happier. I’m looking forward to playing on Wednesday.” said Tomic, just the fourth qualifier to play in the Wimbledon quarter-finals ###.
Rafael Nadal [1] survived a 3-hour 52-minute scare against Juan Martin del Potro [21]. At the end of the 1st set, the Spaniard needed a treatment to his sore left heel. When came back on court a few minutes later, Del Potro jumped quickly to a 3:0 lead in the tie-break. Nadal won the next two points after long rallies to hang out there, afterwards he fought off a set point on serve to win the set (8-6) and the match 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4, consisted of only two breaks of serve. Also Roger Federer [3] needed four sets to beat Mikhail Youzhny [17] the 11th time in succession.

Longest match:
4 hours, 18 minutes – Feliciano Lopez d. Lukasz Kubot 3-6, 6-7(5), 7-6(7), 7-5, 7-5

Most aces:
28 – Feliciano Lopez, defeated Lukasz Kubot in five sets

5-set barometer:

13-8 Feliciano Lopez
8-5 Lukasz Kubot

# Lopez’s four Wimbledon wins from a match point down:

2002, 1R: K.Economidis 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(2), 11-9 – 1 mp
2002, 2R: G.Canas 4-6, 2-6, 7-6(7), 7-5, 10-8 – 6 mp
2008, 4R: M.Baghdatis 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(4), 8-6 – 3 mp
2011, 4R: L.Kubot 3-6, 6-7(5), 7-6(7), 7-5, 7-5 – 2 mp

## Teenagers to play quarterfinals (or better) at Wimbledon:

17 years 13 days, Bjorn Borg – 1973
17 years 7 months, Boris Becker – 1985
18 years 4 months, John McEnroe – 1977
18 years 8 months, Bernard Tomic – 2011
18 years 9 months, Goran Ivanisevic – 1990
19 years 1 month, Pat Cash – 1984
19 years 6 months, Vijay Amritraj – 1973

### Qualifiers who advanced to Wimbledon quarterfinals:

1977: John McEnroe (No. 270)
1984: Paul Annacone (No. 243)
1985: Ricardo Acuna (No. 130)
2000: Vladimir Voltchkov (No. 237)
2011: Bernard Tomic (No. 158)

* McEnroe and Voltchkov finished their journey in semifinals