The unthinkable has happened – Novak Djokovic, the world No.1 and first seed, has been knocked out of Wimbledon in four sets by American world No.41 Sam Querrey.
Coming into Day 6, Querrey and Djokovic had already played two sets with both going the American’s way.
When they resumed their match it looked like Djokovic had fixed whatever ailed him on the previous day, racing out to a 6-3 victory in the third set.
However, when the fourth set turned into a tiebreaker, Querrey won the crucial points and finished with a 7-6 (7-5) victory in that set, claiming the match.
The magnitude of this result can’t be undersold – Djokovic was the clear favourite to take the win not just in this third round match-up, but in the tournament overall. He had won four grand slam titles in a row coming into this tournament, but now his dream of a calendar grand slam is over – for this year, at least.
He had won 30 consecutive matches before this loss.
“It’s disappointing, of course, losing at a grand slam hurts more than any other tournament. There is no doubt about that,” said Djokovic.
“Congratulation to Sam. He played a terrific match.
“He serves very well, as he usually does. That part of his game was brutal today. He just overpowered me. He was aggressive and it paid off.”
Now the tournament is wide open – Andy Murray has taken favouritism, but Roger Federer must also be a chance to win his first grand slam in years, and it could even be the time for someone outside the top four to make their claim to super-stardom.
Speaking of Murray, he eliminated Australia’s John Millman last night in straight sets – Millman did Australia proud but just couldn’t match the talent and experience of the world No.2.
Australia did have some good news however in Bernard Tomic who took an impressive, straight-sets win over 14th seed Roberto Bautista Agut to move into the fourth round.
Nick Kyrgios’ match with Feliciano Lopez saw the first two sets split at one apiece before the match was suspended, with the conclusion scheduled for later tonight.
Tomic and Kyrgios are now the only Australians left in the tournament.
In the doubles, Lleyton Hewitt and Jordan Thompson are still alive after a truly epic showdown with Spanish pair Nicolas Almagro and David Marrero. The two teams split the first two sets, and then the last went for an incredible 36 games, finally ending in a 19-17 win to the Aussie pair.
Seeds out
Mens – Novak Djokovic, Roberto Bautista Agut, Jack Sock
Womens – Petra Kvitova, Kiki Bertens
Men’s betting favourites
Andy Murray $2
Roger Federer $4.5
Milos Ranoic $8
Nick Kyrgios $13
Juan Martin del Potro $19
Bernard Tomic $67
Women’s betting favourites
Serena Williams $2.25
Madison Keys $7
Agnieszka Radwanska $13
Dominika Cibulkova $13
Angelique Kerber $14
Venus Williams $17
Tonight’s big matches
Nick Kyrgios vs Feliciano Lopez (to finish)
Lucas Pouille vs Juan Martin del Potro (to finish)
John Isner vs Jo Wilfried Tsonga (to finish)
Alexander Zverev vs Tomas Berdych
Serena Williams vs Annika Beck
Timea Bacsinszky vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Sloane Stephens vs Svetlana Kuznetsova
Coco Vandeweghe vs Roberta Vinci
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