Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

Wimbledon PHOTOS: Defending champ Kvitova ousted; Federer out-aces Groth

Last updated on: July 04, 2015 23:08 IST

Photos from the Wimbledon matches played on Saturday

Serbia's Jelena Jankovic celebrates match point in her third round match against defending champion Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova at the Wimbledon Championships on Saturday

Serbia's Jelena Jankovic celebrates match point in her third round match against defending champion Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova at the Wimbledon Championships on Saturday. Photograph: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Holder Petra Kvitova suffered a shock 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 defeat by Serbia's former world number one Jelena Jankovic in the Wimbledon third round on Saturday.

Second seed Kvitova had breezed through the first two rounds but after taking the first set against 30-year-old Jankovic she made too many errors allowing the 28th seed to triumph.

Twice champion Kvitova looked confident at the start, having dropped only three games in her first two matches, and when she broke Jankovic in the fourth game she looked set to progress.

 Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic plays a backhand in her Ladies' Singles third Round match against Jelena Jankovic of Serbia

Petra Kvitova plays a backhand shot. Photograph: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

The 25-year-old broke again in the third game of the second set on a sun-drenched Centre Court and went 4-2 ahead as Jankovic struggled to match her power around the court.

But the experienced Serb had battled through two three-set matches already at the All England Club and knew how to dig deep as she fought back to 4-4 before forcing a decider.

The final set went with serve until Jankovic, who had begun to find the shots that saw her reach the US Open final and top the rankings in 2008, broke Kvitova to close out the match.

Switzerland's Roger Federer plays a forehand in his Wimbledon third round match against Australia's Sam Groth on Saturday

Switzerland's Roger Federer plays a forehand in his Wimbledon third round match against Australia's Sam Groth on Saturday. Photograph: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Roger Federer showed that you need more in your arsenal than a bullet serve if you want to seriously trouble the grasscourt masters these days as he snuffed out the threat of Sam Groth in four sets at Wimbledon on Saturday.

Federer's Australian opponent holds the record for the fastest ever delivery in tennis and regularly launched 140mph missiles but only briefly threatened the Swiss's serene progress to the fourth round and eventually succumbed 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-2.

Groth briefly slowed Federer's bid for a record eighth Wimbledon title by holding serve throughout the third set and forcing a tiebreak that he clinched when the second seed misjudged a forehand at set point.

Yet Federer was in no mood to let his stranglehold slip and broke for a 2-0 lead in the fourth and then again to close out the match.

The imposing figure of Groth rekindles memories of the dominant figures at Wimbledon in the 1990s when a sledgehammer serve could propel you into the latter stages at the All England Club.

Nowadays, however, the pinnacle of the men's game is populated with more refined talents and none more so than Federer, whose bid for an 18th grand slam title looks compelling on the evidence of Wimbledon's opening week.

Australia's Sam Groth serves to Switzerland's Roger Federer during their third round match on Saturday

Australia's Sam Groth serves to Switzerland's Roger Federer during their third round match on Saturday. Photograph: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

He scythed through the first two sets against Groth breaking once in both and even out-aced the Australian 6-3 in the second.

Groth, whose fastest delivery of 147 mph fell just short of Taylor Dent's 2010 Wimbledon record of 148, held his nerve throughout the third, but his inability to lay a glove on the Federer serve proved his ultimate downfall in the match.

He could not engineer a single break point throughout the two hour 16 minute contest and was put to the sword when Federer fired a rasping return on match point that dipped into Groth's shoelaces as he charged to the net.

"I am very happy. It has been a hot week the first week but thankfully I have had easy matches going through without too many long four or five setters," said Federer, who now faces 20th-seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut.

"Now we are looking ahead and there are only big matches."

Cilic wins epic four-and-a-half hour battle against Isner

Marin Cilic celebrates victory over John Isner

Croatia's Marin Cilic celebrates after winning his Wimbledon 3rd round match against United States' John Isner on Saturday. Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

A match between two missile-serving giants had the potential to go on for hours and hours but luckily for Marin Cilic he only needed 15 minutes and two games on Saturday to complete a 7-6(4), 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-7(4), 12-10 win over John Isner.

With the Wimbledon third-round match suspended at 10-10 in the fifth set under gathering gloom on Friday, the duo who holds the distinction of winning the annual tournament's two longest matches returned to lock horns on a sun-drenched Court One.

But at five hours 31 minutes, Croatian Cilic's 2012 victory over Sam Querrey was akin to a 100 metre sprint when compared to Isner's feat of endurance in 2010.

American John Isner leaves the court after play was suspended due to bad light in the third round match against Croatia's Marin Cilic on Friday 

American John Isner leaves the court after play was suspended due to bad light in the third round match against Croatia's Marin Cilic on Friday. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images

The fifth set alone in that three-day epic against Nicolas Mahut lasted eight hours 11 minutes and ended 70-68 with the final time clocked at 11 hours five minutes.

But fears the Cilic-Isner encounter could be a reprise of the "never-ending match" never materialised on Saturday as the American surrendered his title hopes with a double fault on the US Open champion's fifth match point.

It was a tame end to a contest that had featured 437 points, 159 winners and 72 aces.

And the duration of the match? A mere four hours 31 minutes.

Nadal slayer Brown ousted by Troicki

Serbia's Viktor Troicki celebrates after beating Germany's Dustin Brown in their third round match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London on Saturday

Serbia's Viktor Troicki celebrates after beating Germany's Dustin Brown in their third round match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London on Saturday. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Dustin Brown's Wimbledon flame fizzled out in a four-set defeat by Viktor Troicki on Saturday, two days after the dreadlocked journeyman illuminated the All England Club by beating twice champion Rafael Nadal.

The 30-year-old German and his distinctive waist-length hair sent tremors through SW19 when he roughed up the Spaniard with a serve-volley barrage to reach the third round, but the 22nd-seeded Troicki brought the fairytale to an abrupt end.

The Serb wrapped up a 6-4, 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3 win to add Brown's name to a group of players who beat Nadal when ranked 100 or below and then exited the tournament at the very next stage.

Following on from Lukas Rosol (100), Steve Darcis (135) and Nick Kyrgios (144), the 102nd-ranked Brown failed to build on his stunning upset and was brought down to earth with a bump in two hours and 13 minutes on a sun-baked Court Three.

Dustin Brown plays a return against Viktor Troicki

Dustin Brown plays a return against Viktor Troicki. Toby Melville/Reuters

Away from the grandeur of Wimbledon's prime arenas, Brown's serve-volley game, which had the tennis purists purring when he beat Nadal, failed to cut through the canny Troicki's defences.

Brown followed in his delivery 99 times against Nadal winning 71 points, but only managed to claim 76 of 120 serve-volley attempts against Troicki.

After losing the first two sets and briefly fighting back to reduce the deficit, Brown was broken twice in the fourth set and served an untimely double fault to end the contest.

Troicki, who equalled his best Grand Slam performance by reaching the round of 16, will now face either Britain's James Ward or Canada's Vasek Pospisil.

Source: REUTERS
© Copyright 2024 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.