Nadal Bounced at Wimbledon; Murray, Federer Cruise Into Third Round

July 2, 2015 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Adam Wolfthal

Thursday afternoon saw the first big shake up in the men’s singles draw at Wimbledon, as 102nd ranked German Dustin Brown knocked out 10th seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

The two-time Wimbledon champion Nadal got off to a good start, breaking in the third game for a 2-1 advantage. But Brown answered back with a break of his own, and then broke later in the set to take the opener 7-5.

Even after Nadal took the second set, Brown was too much for him. He locked down a break point in both the third and fourth sets, and didn’t allow Nadal a single break point opportunity in the final two sets.

“I’ve actually never stepped on the court before I played today,” Brown said of playing on Centre Court. “I thought I would freak out a little bit. But it felt very familiar, being on grass, being with him on court, it made me feel more comfortable.”

Nadal actually had an excellent ratio of 42 winners to just 15 unforced errors, but Brown hit 58 winners of his own.

The German-Jamaican qualifier moves on to play 22nd seeded Serb Viktor Troicki, who ousted Aljaz Bedene 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 on Thursday.

2013 champion Andy Murray rolled in his second-round match, beating Robin Haase of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-1, 6-4.

Murray converted on six of his eight break point chances and committed just 11 unforced errors.

“I am very happy with the way I played,” said Murray. “I felt there were things I could better in the first round but today I did things much better.”

The Scot will meet 25th seed Andreas Seppi of Italy. Seppi moved past Borna Coric 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-1, 6-1.

Federer showed off some flashy play, including a beautiful between-the-legs return, in his second-round contest against American Sam Querrey. The second-seeded Swiss beat Querrey routinely 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 to move on.

He will play Australian Sam Groth in the third-round. Groth beat fellow Australian James Duckworth 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(6).

Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia pulled off a big upset on Thursday, beating 15th seeded Spaniard 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. The 153rd ranked player in the world will take on 20th seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista-Agut next, after Bautista-Agut came back from two sets to love down to beat Benoit Paire 2-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.

Sixth-seed Tomas Berdych, 13th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and 18th seed Gael Monfils all picked up straight set victories to advance as well.

Below are the rest of the men’s results from Thursday’s action:

(12) Gilles Simon d. Blaz Kavcic 6-1, 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-1

(23) Ivo Karlovic d. Alexandr Dologpolov 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(4), 13-11

Vasek Pospisil d. (30) Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3

James Ward d. Jiri Vesely 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3

Pablo Andujar d. Lukas Rosol 6-4, 1-6, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4


Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
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