Nelson Mail

Daniell, Venus into last eight

- David Long at Wimbledon

‘‘Today wasn’t my day. I didn’t win a tennis match; it’s not the end of the world,’’ the Australian said.

‘‘It’s disappoint­ing right now. Give me an hour or so, we’ll be all good. The sun’s still going to come up tomorrow.’’

Among the men, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal all won in straight sets and are in the quarterfin­als of a major tournament for the 24th time; one member of the Big Three won the title at 20 of those.

Sam Querrey hit 25 aces and saved all four break points he faced to get past Tennys Sandgren 6-4 6-7 (7) 7-6 (3) 7-6 (5) in the first all-American men’s week two matchup at Wimbledon in 19 years.

Guido Pella erased a two-set deficit to edge 2016 runner-up Milos Raonic 3-6 4-6 6-3 7-6 (3) 8-6. It was double doubles delight for New Zealand at Wimbledon yesterday.

Michael Venus and Marcus Daniell both won their respective third round men’s doubles matches on the first day of the second week in south-west London.

Both the Kiwis are into the quarterfin­als, with this being Daniell’s best run at the grass court grand slam and Venus still on track for a return to the final, but they had two very different matches.

Daniell and his partner Wesley Koolhof from the Netherland­s needed three hours 29 minutes to notch up their 7-5 6-7 6-4 6-4 victory over Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi from Pakistan, on court 16.

On the adjacent court 17, Venus and his partner South Africa’s Raven Klaasen barely broke into a sweat in their one hour 17 minute 6-2 6-3 7-6 victory over Robin Hasse, from the Netherland­s, and Denmark’s Frederik Nielsen.

Daniell believes that the way he and Koolhof are playing, they could win this tournament.

‘‘This is my favourite slam, because I love the grass courts and we’ve got three [matches] to go,’’ Daniell said.

‘‘Making the quarterfin­als is a fantastic achievemen­t in itself, but I’m not satisfied yet, I think we’re playing well enough to win tournament.

‘‘The tennis we put on court today, would beat any team in the draw if we kept executing like that.’’

 ?? GETTY IMAGES/AP ??
GETTY IMAGES/AP
 ??  ?? The women’s draw lost two of its main drawcards at Wimbledon yesterday. Above, top seed Ash Barty departed after her defeat to 55th-ranked Alison Riske while the dream run of 15-yearold American Coco Gauff, left, ended when she lost in straight sets to former French Open champion Simona Halep.
The women’s draw lost two of its main drawcards at Wimbledon yesterday. Above, top seed Ash Barty departed after her defeat to 55th-ranked Alison Riske while the dream run of 15-yearold American Coco Gauff, left, ended when she lost in straight sets to former French Open champion Simona Halep.

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