Serena pulled out and it seems spot on to me. The stats Ben Rothenberg posted on twitter of her service speed in the final set of the doubles on Sunday tells its own story. Down in the 70’s (MPH). She said she could barely serve, so what was the point in playing? Gutting, but it sounds like it is absolutely the right decision. Let’s just hope the pectoral muscle injury isn’t too serious. Rena has looked more than competitive. Let us hope she has time to focus on Wimbledon, as I have said the signs have been exceptionally encouraging from the matches we have seen. Fingers crossed massively with the MRI Scan Tuesday.

 

 

Garbine Muguruza only had to play two games against Lesia Tsurenko, before the Ukranian pulled put with a hip/hamstring injury. Sharapova next for the Spaniard.

 

 

Halep gave Elise Mertens a going over, as she did in Madrid. 6/2 6/1 for the top seed. Mertens said she was well beaten but it just wasn’t happening for her. I saw Patrick Mouratoglou saying that he thinks Halep is ready to win now, when asked about Serena’s withdrawal.

 
Caroline Garcia really disappointed me though by throwing up far too many errors. You cannot get away with that at this stage of a Slam and not against a player with the quality or consistency of Angie Kerber. She could have been beaten even heavier but she got a bit of luck saving match points earlier. Garcia mentioned after that the attention has been a bit mental. Looks like she didn’t deal with that at all today.

 

 

Daria Kastakina came out and won three straight games to beat Caro Wozniacki 7/6 6/3. Very impressive from the Russian who came out focused from the word go on the resumption. Good display from her. Lovely variation again from Daria. She now has Sloane Stephens in the quarters.

 

 

Wow! Diego dug deeper than deep today. It just shows the tenacity of the little Argentine. He trailed 1/6 2/6 *3/5 today and won. Anderson had a 5/3 lead in the fourth too. Big Kev was playing some lights out stuff, I was very impressed, his movement and groundstrokes were bossing it for large parts, but he couldn’t put Schwartzman away.

 

 

This is what I love about Diego, how easy would it have been to throw the towel in, especially in the third. He was losing 13 inches in height on top of the scoreline. I guess it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog, as they say.

 
El Peque will play Rafa in the last 8. Rafa beat Maximillian Marterer in straights but Marterer gave a good account of himself. Rafa just gets it done again, it is as simple as that! The King of Clay continues, seemingly effortlessly. If Schwartzman is good to go he can certainly extend Rafa in a rally, but like most players, taking a set would be something. You never know though.

Delpo smashed up John Isner. Isner had looked invincible and I thought I was on the value at 600s on the exchanges. Delpo showed why is he is one of my favourite players by blitzing that forehand and nicking a break of Isner’s serve once in each set, in a 6/4 6/4 6/4 win. I really thought Isner had a shot at this, would he win? Maybe not but it would be a tight one. Delpo stepped it up here, first time Isner had lost serve all event. Sneaking through the Argentine at the moment, nobody is talking about him.
Fognini came back from two sets down to take Marin Cilic the distance. In years gone by I think Cilic may have lost this but he dug in, playing some good stuff to see off Fog. I can’t help but love the dude (Fognini) and by the way, I think this clobber is class. A boss outfit that lad. Fan!

Andy Del Potro