NADAL BEATS MIKHAIL KUKUSHKIN IN STRAIGHT SETS AT WIMBLEDON
LONDON: Former champions Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic battled into the Wimbledon third round on Thursday but third seed and 2017 runner-up Marin Cilic crashed out. World No 1 Nadal defeated Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 and will next face Australian teenager Alex de Minaur.
Djokovic, the three-time champion, needed treatment on his left thigh but still had too many weapons for Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos, winning 6-1, 6-2, 6-3. Djokovic has now made the third round for 10 consecutive years and will face either British 21st seed Kyle Edmund or US qualifier Bradley Klahn.
Cilic blew a two-set lead in his 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 loss to Argentina’s Guido Pella, ranked at 82. When rain forced the tie to be postponed on Wednesday, Cilic was leading by two sets against an opponent who had never won a match at Wimbledon before this year.
But the Croatian collapsed once the match resumed on Thursday and Pella took full advantage to set up a third round clash with Mackenzie McDonald.
Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, had been expected to mount a strong challenge for the Wimbledon title after winning the grass-court warm-up at Queen’s Club two weeks ago.
But his defeat is good news for defending champion Roger Federer, who was on course to face Cilic in the semi-finals.
“Yesterday he was playing so good, hitting the ball so hard that I couldn’t do anything,” Pella said. “So the rain helped me a lot. Today I played differently, tried to be more aggressive, he started to feel uncomfortable.”
NADAL TESTED
Nadal, the 2008 and 2010 champion, was tested by world No 77 Kukushkin, a player who is coached by his wife.
The Kazakh was made to pay for converting just two of 13 break points in the match. “It was tough because he played very well,” said 11-time French Open champion Nadal, chasing an 18th major.
For Djokovic, meanwhile, victory was his 60th at Wimbledon — making him just the fifth man to claim 60 wins at the All England Club in the Open Era.
SHARAN ADVANCES
India’s Divij Sharan and his New Zealand partner Artem Sitak prevailed over Radu Albot and Malek Jaziri 7-6(4), 6-7(8), 6-3, 6-2 in two hours and 41 minutes to book a second-round berth.