World number two Andy Murray withstood the challenge of Nick Kyrgios yesterday, sweeping aside the mercurial Australian 7-5 6-1 6-4 on Centre Court to reach his ninth straight Wimbledon quarter-final.
For much of a pulsating first set 15th seed Kyrgios had the edge, however, thudding down serves at close to 140 mph that the second-seeded Scot struggled to reach let alone control.
Murray’s serve, meanwhile, was misfiring and, under darkening skies and roared on by a partisan crowd, he had to dig deep to stay on terms with the Australian.
The set and the match turned in the 12th game, when a combination of Kyrgios errors and two inspired Murray backhands presented the Scot with three break points. Kyrgios saved the first two with booming serves but Murray converted the third when the Australian netted a forehand volley.
Thereafter Kyrgios’s focus and intensity wavered, the Briton breaking him twice in a second set that flew by in 26 minutes. He broke once more in the third, closing out the contest with an ace on his third match point.
Murray will face swashbuckling Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the 12th seed, in the quarter-finals.
Roger Federer felled high-flying Steve Johnson, knocking the wind out of the powerhouse with a 6-2 6-3 7-5 win in the fourth round.
Despite considerable pre-match hype about Johnson, fresh from victory at the Nottingham grasscourt event, there was to be no Independence Day party for the burly American, as Federer showed more than enough to suggest he remains on track for a record eighth Wimbledon men’s singles crown.
Yesterday, Federer drew level with Martina Navratilova on a record 306 grand slam singles match wins.
In the quarter-finals, Federer will play Croatian ninth seed Marin Cilic who advanced after his opponent, Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori, retired injured while trailing 6-1 5-1.
Sam Querrey suffered no hangover from his famous victory over top seed Novak Djokovic as he beat Nicolas Mahut 6-4 7-6 6-4.
Querrey, 28, reproduced the quality of tennis that dispatched world number one Djokovic at the weekend in one of the biggest-ever shocks at the All England Club.
The 28th seed was rarely troubled as he simply overpowered Frenchman Mahut with his huge serve, backed up by booming groundstrokes.
The fourth-round victory over the world number 51 propelled Querrey to his first grand slam quarter-final. On US Independence Day, he also became the first American man to reach the quarter-final at Wimbledon – or any other slam – since 2011.
In the women’s tournament, Serena Williams kept her bid for a record-equalling 22nd grand slam title on track, overpowering Russian 13th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in a 7-5 6-0 in the fourth-round.
Kuznetsova beat Williams on a hardcourt at the Miami Open in March.
But on this occasion the six-times Wimbledon champion was too hot to handle, beginning the match as if late for an appointment, serving a succession of aces and then hitting a brace of groundstroke winners, one off each wing, to break the Russian in the fourth game.
Kuznetsova battled her way back, varying her pace by mixing in slices and drop shots on a surface on which both players at times struggled to keep their footing.
Williams – bidding to equal Steffi Graf’s professional-era record of 22 grand slam singles titles – eventually shaded a first set that featured five breaks of serve and a break for drizzle when the Centre Court roof was closed.
She ran though her opponent without losing another game after play resumed at 5-5 in the first set.
Kerber through
In a full-blooded fourth-round match on Court Two, Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber motored past Japanese pocket rocket Misaki Doi 6-3 6-1
Kerber will play Simona Halep in the quarter-finals. The Romanian beat Madison Keys 6-7 6-4 6-3.
Elsewhere, Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova bundled third seed Agnieszka Radwanska out of the fourth round, saving match point on the way, less than two weeks after beating her in the Eastbourne warm-up tournament.
In an energy-sapping contest between power and touch, Cibulkova used a thunderous serve and thumping forehand to wear down Radwanska 6-3 5-7 9-7.
The Slovak will meet Elena Vesnina, of Russia, in today’s quarter-finals.