Nadal, Nishikori, Querrey, advance to Wimbledon’s fourth round

Rafael Nadal, Kei Nishikori and Sam Querrey advanced to the fourth round of the Wimbledon yesterday, as the first week of the Championships runs to a close.

The eighth seeded Nishikori achieved a 6/4, 6/3, 6/2 victory over Steve Johnson, while Sam Querrey defeated Australia’s John Millman 7/6 (3), 7/6 (8), 6/3.

The third seeded Nadal secured two service breaks to win the first set. In the second set, Nadal forced Tsonga to deuce and secured a break to lead 4-2. He delivered two aces to stretch the lead to 5-2.

Serving to stay in the set, Tsonga fell behind 15-30 but recovered to hold and reduce tally to 5-3. Nadal served out the set 6/3. An early break in the third set gave Nadal a lead of 4-1, while a second break had him leading 5-1.

Tsonga was taken to deuce before holding to reduce tally 2-5. Serving for the, match Nadal did not drop a point en route to game set and match 6/2.

The contest carried the burden of memory for Tsonga because, with this victory at Wimbledon, Nadal stretched his career record with Tsonga to 9-4. The French strong man won their preceding encounter in the semifinals of the 2015 Shanghai Masters.

Nishikori dominated the encounter with American Querrey, who was a shadow of his form in the preceding round in which he outlasted his opponent in five sets. The Japanese star had won all their preceding four career meetings with the victory in the third round of 2016 Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells. A single break of the Millman’s serve secured the third set 6/3 for the American, who advanced to the fourth round.

Sam Querrey’s serve has always given him a good run in Wimbledon. In the battle with Australia’s John Millman, both players hung on tightly to their service games.

The first set was decided in a tiebreak, which Querrey won by seven points to three. The second set got to a longer tie break in which Querrey prevailed with 10 points to eight.