Americans Fish and Baker Into Fourth Round; Murray Beats Curfew

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Americans Fish and Baker Into Fourth Round; Murray Beats Curfew

By Erik Gudris

Photo Credit: Getty Images

(June 30th, 2012) On a day that saw multiple Americans take to the courts of Wimbledon, several American men staging various kinds of comebacks in their careers earn wins into the fourth round.

Mardy Fish, who had to skip the French Open due to a health scare, continues to show the kind of form that took him into the top ten as he dispatched rising Belgian star David Goffin 6-3, 7-6 (6), 7-6(6) to reach the fourth round. Fish will next face No. 5 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who earned a 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 win over Lukas Lacko.

Brian Baker, another American who continues his own remarkable comeback story after having missed several years due to injuries, reached the fourth round as well after defeating the mercurial French talent Benoit Paire 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3. Baker's next opponent is No. 27 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber who took out Lukas Rosol, the man who shocked Rafael Nadal, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6(6) despite Rosol saving three match points in the final set.

The match of the day belonged to No. 7 seed David Ferrer who took on the resurgent No. 30 seed Andy Roddick. Roddick came out on fire in the first set as he ripped groundstrokes and charged the net to claim the set in just 22 minutes. But after missing out on set point chances in a tight second set tiebreak, Roddick's grip on the match slowly started to slip as Ferrer began returning the massive Roddick serve better while Roddick's own grounds starting losing their earlier ferocity.

Ferrer took the third set and though Roddick battled in the fourth set, the former finalist dropped serve twice including in the final game to give Ferrer a 2-6, 7-6(8), 6-4, 6-3 victory. Ferrer will next face Juan Martin Del Potro in the fourth round.

Cilic Wins Second Longest Match in Wimbledon History Over Querrey.

When No. 15 seed Marin Cilic was pushed to three sets just a few weeks ago by Sam Querrey in the semifinals of Queen's Club, their rematch today in the third round of Wimbledon was expected to be a close contest as well.

It was that and more as both men engaged what would turn out to be the second longest match in Wimbledon history, only rivaled by the epic played between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut only a few years before. After Cilic took the first two sets, it appeared the Croat was on his way to a straight sets victory.

But Querrey, showing a new resolve previously unseen in his earlier career that was halted this time last year due to an elbow injury, stormed back to take the third and fourth sets in tiebreaks. In the final set, Cilic served for the match at 6-5 but was held off by Querrey who pushed the match into extra games as there is no final set tiebreak at Wimbledon.

Then the games began ringing up on the scoreboard behind both men. 7-all. 9-all, 12-all. With light starting to fade on court, there was concern the match might have to be postponed until Monday as there is no play on the middle Sunday of the tournament. Finally at 15-all, Cilic earned the crucial break and served for the match at 16-15.

A lengthy rally at 30-all saw both men chase down the ball from every angle of the court until a Querrey groundstroke floated just long. On match point, after 5 and 1/2 hours of play, Cilic closed out a 7-6 (6), 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-7 (3), 17-15. victory.

"Complete drama" was how Cilic described the match to ESPN.

Murray Beats Baghdatis and the Curfew Clock

Wimbledon is known for its adherence to tradition, but even the All-England Club may have bent its fastidious rules just a bit to allow Britain's hope Andy Murray a chance to finish his match in one day.

Taking on Marcos Baghdatis on Centre Court, the match had a bit of comedy, drama and fantastic shotmaking that saw Murray break the Cypriot late in the first set and open up an early break lead in the second set. But a tumble from Murray that seemed to affect his leg along with a later episode of a ball falling out of Murray's shorts during a point all contributed to seeing Murray lose his grip on the set with Baghdatis serving it out to level the match.

With darkness settling in over London, the roof on Centre Court was closed but the delay in getting the roof set meant there was only an hour and a half of match time left before play would have to be suspended due to a local village curfew law. With both men trading breaks, it was Murray who hit a sizzling backhand pass to break Baghdatis one more time to go up two sets to one.

But with time running out before the curfew would take effect, Murray literally was playing 'beat the clock' to try and win one more set or face having to come back on Monday to finish. Baghdatis helped by double faulting to give Murray a 2-0 lead and from there Baghdatis seemed to rush even more while Murray, fueled by the crowd looked to hit quick winners. Another break of serve for Murray eventually gave him a 5-1 lead, but with the clock at 11pm, many wondered if officials would pull the men off the court. Instead, they let the players continue and at the stroke of 11:02 p.m., Murray wrapped a bizarre yet entertaining 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory.