YESTERDAY at Wimbledon was marked by a swarm of flying ants and a swathe of British victories, so what can we expect from day four of the Championships?
Full marks for the Brits
ANDY MURRAY led the way into the third round with a commanding three-set victory over Dustin Brown. He was joined in the men’s by Aljaz Bedene, who reached the last-32 for the first time at SW19 thanks to a four-set win.
In the ladies’ singles, Jo Konta outlasted Donna Vekic over three hours on Centre Court winning 10-8 in the final set in the best match of the tournament so far.
By contrast, Heather Watson needed over two hours less as she produced a ruthless display to win in straight sets.
Outside of the Brits, most of the big names advanced although the fairytale ended for Petra Kvitova. In just her third tournament back since recovering from being stabbed in the hand, the former Champion’s fairytale of coming back and winning Wimbledon for a third time ended as she was beaten by American outsider Madison Brengle.
Can Kyle make it five?
KYLE EDMUND was busy playing doubles yesterday while four British players were making hay in singles. Now he has been given top billing as he attempts to join them in reaching the third round of the singles.
Edmund will make his Centre Court debut as he opens proceedings against the unpredictable but exciting Gael Monfils. The British No.2 got the monkey off his back by winning his first singles match at Wimbledon on Tuesday at the fifth time of asking and now the test is how he will take to the big stage.
Grass possibly isn’t Edmund’s favourite surface but the same is true for Monfils. The Frenchman, seeded 15th and who can vary from the sublime to the ridiculous, has never reached the second week of Wimbledon, despite being a former Junior Champion here in 2004.
Unhappy memories for Novak
ROGER FEDERER and women’s title favourite Karolina Pliskova follow Kyle Edmund onto Centre Court, so that means Novak Djokovic gets shunted out to Court 1 for the afternoon.
A match against the World No.136 Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic should not pose too many problems for the three-time Wimbledon Champion, but the problem is the venue. Novak just doesn’t like this court.
Remember, it was on this court 12 months ago that he was dumped out as Champion by Sam Querrey in the fourth round as his bad run of form began. And on the two previous outings at SW19’s second court, Djokovic had to come from behind to win in five sets. So new coach Andre Agassi must convince his charge there are no demons waiting for him today.
Brit watch
KYLE EDMUND takes centre stage on Centre Court but elsewhere Jamie Murray starts his men’s doubles campaign on Court 5.
He and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares won the events in Stuttgart and at Queen’s, so they are in great form and will be targeting the biggest Grand Slam in doubles – Wimbledon.
Seed in danger
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI’s Wimbledon prospects will be tested out on Court 2 by Tsvetana Pironkova. Wozniacki has been a former World No.1 but has never won a Grand Slam and she’s never even reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.
Her Bulgarian opponent reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon back in 2010, and has twice knocked out Venus Williams, so the No.5 seed from Denmark should not underestimate her pedigree on grass.
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