Britain's James Ward loses to Vasek Pospisil at Wimbledon
Sunday 5 July 2015 16:02, UK
James Ward's stunning Wimbledon run came to a crashing halt after losing a five-set thriller to Vasek Pospisil on Saturday.
After losing the opening set, the British No 4 roared back to take the next two but eventually faded to the serve-and-volley specialist from Canada and finally went down 6-4 3-6 2-6 6-3 8-6 much to the disappointment of the partisan crowd.
It was another valiant display though from Andy Murray's training partner who had already guaranteed a spot in the world's top 100 for the first time in the next rankings.
Ward, currently world No 111, was playing in the third round for the first time at Wimbledon and showed a few early nerves with a number of unforced errors helping his opponent to take the first set.
But the Londoner swiftly settled against last year's doubles champion, cut out the mistakes and the next two sets were a bit of a cruise.
After last night's heartache for British tennis fans with Heather Watson's defeat against Serena Williams, it seemed they were set to have something very special to cheer about on a sun-drenched Court One.
The 25-year-old Pospisil had other ideas and raised his aggression levels and after breaking to lead 4-1 in the fourth set, the contest was soon heading into a fifth and deciding set.
Both players refused to buckle and with Ward surviving a nervous seventh service game, it was hard to predict which way this intriguing encounter would go.
As the volume of the home support cranked up, the Canadian seemed to get stronger and at 6-6 he pounced on to a seemingly fading Ward to break and get within one game of the finish line.
Ward had no answers this time to Pospisil's service missiles and cuteness at the net and the match finally ended after three hours and five minutes to leave Murray as the only Briton in the main singles draw.
Ward said: "He served well, particularly towards the end and I think that was the difference. Most of the points that went to rallies it was me that was on top. He lifted in the fourth set, kept himself in it with his serve.
"It's mixed emotions, I didn't play to the best of my ability. I gave myself a chance but he lifted and you've just got to give credit to him.
"I'm sure I'll look back on the good things, get ready for Davis Cup and get ready to go again."
Pospisil will next play Viktor Troicki, who beat Dustin Brown, for a place in the quarter-finals.
