Novak waits after safety fears thwart court switch
Wimbledon postponed novak djokovic’s match against Adrian mannarino last night, but came under fire for not moving it to Centre Court straight after Roger Federer’s match had finished.
John mcenroe was among the critics, but the All england Club said safety fears were behind the decision to try to wait out the end of Rafael nadal’s loss on Court no1. A Club statement said: ‘it was determined the match could not be moved to Centre Court since, as late as 8.30pm, 30,000 people were still in the grounds. moving the match would have created a significant safety issue.’
mcenroe told the bbC: ‘Why didn’t they put it on Centre? it was clear it was going late.’
last year’s finalist milos Raonic (below) also went the distance last night as he set up a quarterfinal with Roger Federer, beating Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in three and a half hours.
it was a year to the day since the Canadian lost to Andy murray in the Wimbledon final, and there was little between the sixth seed and World no 12 Zverev before the deciding set.
it was there where the young German succumbed to the speedy serves of Raonic, who hit three aces in the final game, and 23 overall.
elsewhere, the oldest and the youngest players left in the women’s draw moved through to set up a quarter-final for the ages.
While 37-year-old Venus Williams cruised past Ana Konjuh 6-3, 6-2, 20-year-old Jelena ostapenko needed eight match points to put away elina Svitolina.
The latvian, who hit 42 winners past no4 seed Svitolina in a 6-3, 7-6 win, is now just three wins away from what would be a quite extraordinary back-to-back triumph.
‘i think i am playing better with every match, like at the French,’ said ostapenko, who would join an impressive list of women who have completed the ‘Channel double’ in the open era: margaret Court, billie Jean King, Chrissie evert, martina navratilova, Steffi Graf and Serena Williams.
meanwhile, Angelique Kerber’s troubled reign at world no1 was ended by Garbine muguruza, who won 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Kerber had to reach the final to have any chance of retaining her ranking. Simona Halep will take over if she beats Jo Konta today. otherwise, Karolina Pliskova, who lost in the second round, will be the new no1.
Having surged to the top spot last year, the German has not beaten a player inside the top 20 in 2017.