Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic headline Wimbledon men's quarter-finals
Wednesday 12 July 2017 16:01, UK
A look at the Wimbledon men's quarter-finals, including an intriguing battle between Roger Federer and Milos Raonic and Andy Murray's next obstacle on his quest for a third title.
Andy Murray v Sam Querrey
Sam Querrey will be looking to upset the defending Wimbledon champion for the second year in a row when he faces Andy Murray on Wednesday.
The American stunned Novak Djokovic in four sets in the third round last year, before losing to Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals.
That was his best run at a Grand Slam, but he is looking to go one better this time around.
"I'm going to try to play aggressive and keep the points short," said the 24th seed. "That favours me. The longer the points go, probably the better chance he [Murray] has to win.
"Sometimes it's fun to go out there and play where the crowd is behind the other player 100 per cent."
Querrey has hit 99 aces so far at Wimbledon, the joint-second highest behind Gilles Muller (102), but has needed five sets in both his previous matches against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Kevin Anderson.
Murray has dropped just one set - in the third round against Fabio Fognini - and holds a 7-1 head-to-head advantage against Querrey, including a straight-sets win at the Australian Open earlier this year.
"Sam obviously likes the conditions here," Murray said. "He played really well last year. He's had some good wins here, some tight matches as well. He'll be confident going in. He obviously has a big serve. He goes for his shots. He's a very aggressive player.
"He's not an easy guy to break. When he's ahead, he can serve well. He's a good front-runner. I'll need to make sure I'm serving well and not letting him dictate too much."
Murray came into Wimbledon struggling with a hip problem, but his beaten fourth-round opponent, Benoit Paire, says he did not see any signs of an injury.
"I think he has no problem," said Paire, when asked about Murray's movement during breaks in play. "Between the points, we can do what we want. But during the point he can run like a rabbit."
Gilles Muller v Marin Cilic
Will Gilles Muller back up his shock win over Rafael Nadal with another surprise victory?
The 34-year-old reached only his second Grand Slam quarter-final with a marathon 6-3 6-4 3-6 4-6 15-13 victory over three-time champion Nadal.
But he now faces the challenge of overcoming one of the most impressive players so far on the men's side.
Cilic has yet to drop a set in four matches and has only had his serve broken five times.
"My confidence is quite high, considering I've been playing really well over the past few weeks," said Cilic, who had a match point to win the Aegon Championships before Wimbledon. "I'm really satisfied everything is working extremely well.
"My level is quite solid. It's probably not the best possible but definitely really, really solid, and I'm returning well and serving well. I'm moving on the court really well too."
Cilic has won both previous meetings against Muller, including beating the Luxembourgian in the semi-finals at Queen's.
However, Muller is at a career-high 26 in the world and has won more matches on grass than any other player this year.
"I think the main reason [for my success this year] is that I've been able to play full seasons for the past three or four years, which I wasn't able to do before because I had many injuries," he said.
On facing Cilic, he said: "I guess he's pretty confident at the moment. It looks like he's feeling good and playing well, so it's going to be a tough match."
Milos Raonic v Roger Federer
This is a repeat of last year's Wimbledon semi-final where Raonic came out on top in five absorbing sets.
Raonic was made to work hard against Alexander Zverev in the fourth round, saving 14 of 17 break points, but used his battling credentials to recover from two sets to one down against the rising star.
However, he will face Federer, 35, who has looked in fine form so far during the tournament reaching the quarter-finals without losing a set.
Federer, who missed the entirety of the clay court season, could meet world No 4 Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals on Friday and is well aware that he has reached the stage of the tournament where the difficulty of matches will increase.
"I can look at this quarter-final in a totally relaxed fashion," said the seven-time Wimbledon champion ahead of facing Raonic.
"Physically I'm not fighting anything like last year with my knee. I think that's a great bonus. Then again, the best players are left in the draw. It's going to be a tough one. I'm aware of that.
"That's why I can't think too far ahead. I think it's going to be a tough finish to this tournament."
Raonic, who reached his maiden Grand Slam final last year at Wimbledon, trails their head to head 9-3 and accepts that he will need to have more than sheer power if he is to prevail against Federer.
"I feel like as a shot-for-shot player I'm better," said Raonic, when asked about how his game has changed from last year.
"I just feel like I'm still trying to find that rhythm that I had last year, playing a lot of matches consistently. It doesn't mean it can't come, but I've just got to be sharp each and every point during the next match."
Tomas Berdych v Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic, who is another player not to have lost a set in this year's Wimbledon, looks to have regained some focus and motivation after going through a spell of poor form.
The three-time Wimbledon champion has linked up with former Wimbledon winner Andre Agassi and the Serbian has looked far more engaged and showed lots of emotion in his victories against Ernests Gulbis and Adrian Mannarino.
Djokovic's fourth round encounter with Mannarino was held over until Tuesday but he showed some glimpses of the form that saw him complete the career Grand Slam when he won the French Open last year but is well aware of Berdych's pedigree.
"He's someone that understands the occasion of playing big matches, big tournaments," said Djokovic ahead of facing the experienced Czech. "He will not get overwhelmed by the stadium or whatever.
"He's been there so many years. He's got experience. It's important to start off well. I've played him many times. I know what I need to do. Hopefully I can execute that."
Berdych has enjoyed an impressive Wimbledon so far highlighted by the determined manner of his five-set victory over world No 8 Dominic Thiem in the fourth round, but the Czech has only ever one two matches in his career against Djokovic.
A Berdych victory would see the world No 15 repeat the feat of reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals from last year and the 31-year-old has been pleased with his level of play.
"I was serving very well throughout the whole match," said the two-time Davis Cup winner after his victory against Thiem.
"I think I [have] showed pretty good tennis. I was making a lot of chances also in the sets that I lost. But I think I had it pretty much under control all the time, which was the most important thing, and I was just dictating the game."
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