Novak Djokovic and Marin Cilic will continue their Wimbledon campaigns as the entire fourth round is played on Monday. They are set for respective encounters with Kevin Anderson and Denis Kudla.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (14) Kevin Anderson
Djokovic and Anderson will be squaring off for the sixth time in their careers and for the first time in more than three years when they meet again in round four of Wimbledon on Monday. Anderson won their first-ever encounter 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-4 at the 2008 Miami Masters but Djokovic has since won four in a row without dropping a set. The Serb prevailed three times in 2011–including 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 at Wimbledon–and at the 2012 Indian Wells Masters.
After succumbing to Stan Wawrinka in the French Open final, Djokovic did not play any off the grass-court warmups. But it is safe to say some rest did not do him any harm. The world No. 1 steamrolled through his first week at the All-England Club with straight-set scalps of Philipp Kohlschreiber, Jarkko Nieminen, and Bernard Tomic. Anderson punched his ticket to the last 16 by defeating Lucas Pouille, Marsel Ilhan, and Leonardo Mayer. This is the 14th-ranked South African’s second career trip to the Wimbledon fourth round and second in succession. Anderson’s one-two punch with his serve and forehand will make at least two sets relatively competitive, but Djokovic knows what to expect from the big guy and the favorite’s form is far too great for anyone outside the top five right now. In fact, since last summer’s Cincinnati Masters he has only one loss to a non-top five adversary (Ivo Karlovic, Doha).
Pick: Djokovic in 3 losing 11-14 games
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(9) Marin Cilic vs. (WC) Denis Kudla
Few could have imagined that Kudla would be in the second week of Wimbledon when this fortnight began–or that he would be the last American standing. That being said, his fine form at the All-England Club has not come out of nowhere. The world No. 105 had been just 2-6 at the ATP level in 2015 prior to this tournament, but he entered two grass-court Challenger events last month and reached the final of one before winning the other. His run so far at the All-England Club has been a dream for Kudla, who owns five-set victories over Pablo Cuevas and Santiago Giraldo and a four-setter at the expense of Alexander Zverev.
Next up for the 22-year-old is a first-ever meeting with Cilic. The reigning U.S. Open champion has not quite been the same since that triumph last summer, in part due to injury, but he is finally heating up again. Cilic reached the fourth round of the French Open and the semifinals in Stuttgart before succumbing to Viktor Troicki in a third-set tiebreaker. The ninth-ranked Croat has been far from dominant at this event, but he persevered through five-setters with Ricardas Berankis and John Isner after easing past Hiroki Moriya in his opener. Kudla wields some dangerous firepower, especially off the backhand side, but in the end this is mismatch between a slam champion and someone who had never previously been to a third round.
Pick: Cilic in 4
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He’s been strutting around with that irritating smirk since he arrived in Wimbledon:
Federer’s 18th or Nole’s 9th ed?
World-class backhands from the world no.1 !
15-30!
15-30 AJDE!!!!
Djoker serving for the match!
Yes but Rafa is the Best (unless someone does better).
^hahahaha….snap!
Kevin Kyrgios
OMG! two double faults IN A ROW! after serving perfectly, THIS happens. lol
A super return and novak has the break! Anderson choked
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#MuzzoleFam
Here we go……………..Hawkeye, I answered your question above in the wrong place.
Nole is the lesser of two evils.
My take also.
Needs to find some 1st serves
BIG BIG returning and hitting! 0-30
Gonna give it back.
Big FH out wide took guts.
2 for 4 on first serve. Kevin poor returning. 30 all
another flubbed 2nd serve return. MP
Djoker into the next round!
Invercreep is the bitter end…………
Big win for Nole.
Level headed celebration.
#KeepingItReal
#MuzzolewawaFam
muzzolewawaFam….. hahahhaa
It was a close escape! Well played under pressure but Anderson folded in that game with two double faults in a row! he also had two break points in the third game…
anyway, Djokovic reaches his 7th Qtr final at Wimbledon.
Cilic will be a difficult test too!
Yes, and then his recent nemesis Wawa.
Like I said from the get go, his draw (along with Federer’s) was carefully selected to maximize chances for a Federer win.
Wawa is going to sail past Gasquet and the Wawa-Nole will be a war!
I agree.
I picked Wawa to make the final and I’m sticking with it.
Fed to win his 18th.
I’m married to it.
(I am not married to Rafa not adding to his slam count. Rafa is the best of all time.)
hawkeye63 says:
July 7, 2015 at 1:03 pm
Anderson winning much easier on his serve than Nole. Doesn’t bode well for the TB.
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Tie break????????????????? This is Wimbledon!
he forgot that… of course no tie breaks in wimbledon
hawkeye,
Isn’t Rafa the GOAT?
For the time being yes although Federer is trying to re-enter the conversation.
I am sorry that I missed the continuation of this match. But from reading the comments it appears that Anderson did come out and continue with his great play. I just saw the post-match interview with Novak. He seemed relieved.
It’s too bad that Anderson had one bad serving game. But the top players find a way to win.
yes ! reminds me of the countless occasions rafa was able to find a way 🙁
I do find myself remembering how Rafa could do it better than anyone. I still miss that Rafa. I also wish he was still here playing. 🙁
quiz question: Why is it impossible for native to watch matches live?
Because the earth takes eight hours to travel from WImbledon to the west coast.
That said, Rafa is still the best ever.
It’s not impossible she just waits for hawkeye’s take on the matches.
^^^So she can watch the recording through hawkeye’s eyes. (Forgive the pun)
native is on the East coast ( Florida). hawkeye you failed. The answer is she cannot take a break from her 24/7 trolling. nadline’s answer is acceptable. It seems native waits to get vr and hawkeye’s take on the match then makes her own cut and paste post. Don’t know whether she ever watches any matches.
Mary,
You seem to know a lot about me and are quite involved in my tennis viewing habits. I find that kind of weird and bizarre, given your obvious dislike for me and your need to constantly make up imaginary stories about me, of course always accompanied by your trusty shadow, nadline.
You two make quite the tag team. Do you ever go anywhere without each other? Are you joined at the hip? Do you need to check each other’s comments before you post them just to make sure you both get it right?
You think it makes you someone if you come on here and make up stuff about me. Someone you have never met, yet you talk as if you know me. Why do you even bother? It seems like quite a bit of effort for a person you despise. Why waste the energy? Nothing better to do with your time?
native, you are contradicting yourself!!! Hilarious!!!
On the one hand you say I seem to know a lot about you and your tennis viewing habits, on the other hand you claim I make up stories about you.
Actually it is hard not to know about your tennis viewing habits because for years you have bored us after every match with your whine that you being on the west coast you are in the wrong time zone. Then you moved East and still you could somehow never watch matches live. As suggested by me earlier, why not take a break from trolling to watch matches live? You might even make original posts instead of parroting vr or hawkeye’s observations.
https://twitter.com/PseudoFed/status/618411693249556480
where is the Us in that sentence? Our match, and so on?
Mary,
Again you seem to have paid a lot of attention to what I say. It’s flattering, but sometimes it feels like you are a stalker. You know things about me, but then you say that I don’t watch tennis matches. How would you know that? Are you in my living room watching me? If I see some matches live and some on the replay, what’s the big deal?
I haven’t said anything about how you never talk tennis. You seem to be projecting your habits onto me. I don’t think you watch any matches and that’s why you come here just to attack me over and over again. Why not admit that you don’t ever watch tennis, that you aren’t here to talk about anything related to tennis, that you and your buddy nadline are just here to take out your own misery on other people.
It’s just kind of scary to realize that you have spent all this time reading everything I say and either committing it to memory or keeping some kind of file. Why do you care if I live in Florida or Timbuktu? So much attention devoted to little ole me. I am really not that important. Yet you devote most of your time here to me. Hmmm. 🙂