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As we enter the second week at Wimbledon, let’s take a look back at what has shaped this year’s Championships and preview the second week of the tournament.
The full Round of 16 line-up is still to be completed, with a number of matches from Saturday being held over due to inclement weather conditions. Stanislas Wawrinka, John Isner, Ana Ivanovic and Sabine Lisicki are among those who are still to finish (or even start, in the case of Wawrinka and Isner) their third round ties.
Among those who survived the first truly rain-drenched day of the tournament were Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova and Roger Federer, all of whom played their matches under the closed roof of Centre Court.
Serena Williams was also able to finish her match against Alize Cornet on Court One, but her recent Grand Slam woes continued when she was upset by the Frenchwoman in three sets after dominating the first set, taking it 6-1.
Her departure marked her earliest exit from the All England Club since 2005, and it marks the third consecutive Grand Slam in which she has failed to reach the quarter-finals.
It also means that, for the first time since 1998-99, the tournament will be won in consecutive years by anyone other than the Williams sisters, after Venus departed by virtue of a three-set loss to Petra Kvitova on Friday.
Serena’s departure opens up the draw for Maria Sharapova, who would have dreaded having to face her career nemesis in the quarter-finals. The Russian has lost her last fifteen meetings against the American, winning only three sets.
Sharapova, along with Kvitova, are the only two active former Wimbledon champions remaining in the draw. If all goes well, then the two could meet in this Saturday’s final with both seeking their second title at the All England Club.
There are of course more contenders for the year’s most prestigious Grand Slam tournament, with past finalists Sabine Lisicki and Agnieszka Radwanska, as well as recent French Open runner-up Simona Halep, among the favourites.
As already mentioned, Lisicki’s third round match against Ana Ivanovic was suspended with the German having won the first set 6-4 and currently locked at 1-all in the second set.
Their fourth round opponent is also still to be decided, with Yaroslava Shvedova on the brink of victory having won the first set against Madison Keys in a tiebreak and the second set also to be decided in a tiebreak.
Radwanska is through to the fourth round for the third consecutive year, but standing in the way of her and a quarter-final berth is Russian left-hander Ekaterina Makarova, who upset her in straight sets at the US Open last year.
Halep was also one of the few who survived the rain and was able to finish her match. Last year’s most improved player will play Zarina Diyas in the fourth round, after the Kazakh upset 2010 runner-up Vera Zvonareva in three sets.
Eugenie Bouchard defeated Andrea Petkovic. The Canadian will next face Serena Williams’ conqueror, Alize Cornet, in the fourth round. Neither have previously reached the quarter-finals at the All England Club before.
A win for Bouchard will guarantee her entry into the top ten when the new rankings are released next Monday, provided Ana Ivanovic does not mount a comeback against Sabine Lisicki.
Among the notable early-round casualties was Victoria Azarenka, who went down in three sets to Bojana Jovanovski in the second round, world number two Li Na, who lost in two tiebreak sets to Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova in the third round, and Jelena Jankovic, who was thrashed by Kaia Kanepi in the first round.
At least four first-time Wimbledon quarter-finalists are guaranteed in the women’s with the likes of Lucie Safarova, Caroline Wozniacki and Simona Halep, in addition to Bouchard and Cornet who meet on Monday, having not yet gone this far here.
Swinging focus to the men now, and the top four seeds (Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Roger Federer) remain on track to reach the semi-finals, though some doubt lingers over Nadal after he again overcame a slow start in his match before going on to defeat Mikhail Kukushkin in four sets.
This followed similarly slow starts against Slovakia’s Martin Klizan and the Czech Republic’s Lukas Rosol, the man who famously knocked the Spaniard out of the Championships two years ago.
The world number one and second seed next faces Australia’s Nick Kyrgios.
The Canberra-based wildcard followed up his stunning comeback victory over Richard Gasquet by defeating fellow former Australian Open junior champion Jiri Vesely in four sets to not only move into the fourth round on his All England Club debut, but also guarantee entry into the world’s top 100 for the first time when the rankings are ratified next week.
It will be the second Grand Slam tournament in the last three starts in which Nadal will have to face a promising young Australian on the big stage. At the Australian Open earlier this year, Nadal defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis in straight sets in the second round.
Should Nadal progress as expected, then he will remain on track to meet Roger Federer in the semi-finals. The Swiss moved into the fourth round by thrashing Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo in straight sets, but has Tommy Robredo and possibly Stanislas Wawrinka to deal with before the semi-finals.
In the top half, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray also remain on track to meet in the final four – though the Serb faces his first serious test when he locks horns with French rival Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the fourth round.
The French showman has already had to play five days in a row, with his first two matches taking two days each to complete. He had it easy in the third round though, defeating Taiwanese qualifier Jimmy Wang in straight sets.
A new quarter-finalist is guaranteed in Djokovic’s quarter, with Jeremy Chardy and Marin Cilic having never gone past the Round of 16 at the All England Club before. Cilic is the strongest positioned to reach the last eight for the first time, having previously reached the fourth round in 2008 and 2012.
Andy Murray’s potential opponent in the last eight will also be a first-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist with Grigor Dimitrov favoured to defeat Leonardo Mayer and move into the last eight of a Grand Slam tournament for the second time.
In the bottom half, there will be at least one guaranteed first-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist with Milos Raonic awaiting the winner of the suspended tie between Japan’s Kei Nishikori and Italian lucky loser Simone Bolelli.
The pair are locked at 3-all in the final set after Nishikori took the fourth set in a tiebreak.
After the first week, there are so many questions. Can Andy Murray successfully defend his title, or will Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal slug out another Grand Slam final against each other?
Can Roger Federer win his eighth title at the All England Club? And will either Maria Sharapova or Petra Kvitova reign for a second time, or will there be a new champion?
All those questions are set to be answered when Wimbledon resumes on Monday night (AEST).
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