DREAM STAYS ALIVE
Federer, Nadal close in on Wimbledon final
DEFENDING champion Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal closed in on a dream Wimbledon final as the sport’s two greatest players swept into the last-eight on Monday.
Eight-time champion Federer needed just 16 minutes to win the opening set on his way to a 6-0, 75, 6-4 defeat of France’s Adrian Mannarino to reach his 16th All England Club quarter-final.
World No 1 Nadal, the two-time champion, reached his first quarter-final at Wimbledon since 2011 — when he went on to finish runnerup — with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win over Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic.
Federer will be playing in his 53rd Grand Slam last-eight when he tackles Kevin Anderson, the eighth-seeded South African.
Top seed Federer, 36, has now won 32 consecutive sets at Wimbledon, just two behind his record set from the third round in 2005 to his title triumph in 2006.
He has also held serve for 81 successive games at the tournament, a run stretching back the first set of his semi-final win against Tomas Berdych in 2017.
Federer boasts a 4-0 career record against 2017 US Open runner-up Anderson, who reached the quarter-finals for the first time with a 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-2), 5-7, 7-6 (7-4) win over France’s Gael Monfils.
Anderson is the first South African man in the Wimbledon last-eight since Wayne Ferreira in 1994.
Nadal, like Federer yet to drop a set, routed World No 93 Vesely on the eve of the Czech player’s 25th birthday.
Monday’s win took Nadal, 32, into a 35th Grand Slam quarterfinal.
“It was an important victory as since 2011 I have not been in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon. So it’s an important moment,” said Nadal, the 17-time Grand Slam champion who has made four successive quarter-finals at the majors for the first time in six years.
Next up for Nadal is Juan Martin del Potro, the fifth seeded Argentine, who beat Gilles Simon of France 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 7-6 (7-5) yesterday.
Novak Djokovic reached the quarter-finals for the 10th time with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 win over Russia’s Karen Khachanov.
“He’s got weapons, a big serve and a big forehand,” said Djokovic of the world number 40.
“I got a lot of first serves in, made him hit the extra ball. I served well when I needed to.
“It was difficult in the last few games. It was dark so I couldn’t see the ball that well and it was very windy.”
Three-time champion Djokovic, seeded 12, will next face Japan’s 24th seed Kei Nishikori.
It will be Djokovic’s 41st appearance in a Grand Slam quarter-final and he will start favourite against Nishikori who will be in his first last-eight at the All England Club.
Former World No 1 Djokovic has a 13-2 winning record against the Japanese player.
Nishikori overcame a right arm injury to reach his first Wimbledon quarter-final with a gritty 46, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (12-10), 6-1 win over Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis.
“It’s always like a big war for me when I play Novak. I always enjoy playing against him,” said Nishikori, who has beaten the Serb just twice in 15 meetings.
The 28-year-old Nishikori is the first Japanese man to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon since Shuzo Matsuoka in 1995.
American ninth seed John Isner also reached his first Wimbledon quarter-final with a 6-4, 76 (10-8), 7-6 (7-4) win over Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Isner, 33, will be playing in his first quarter-final at the majors since the 2011 US Open when he faces former Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic.
Raonic fired 37 aces and 74 winners to defeat Mackenzie McDonald of the United States and reach the quarter-finals for the fourth time.