Ahead of the second week of matches at the All England Club, we look at what to watch for at Wimbledon.
The Karlovic test
The first week of Wimbledon was dominated by aces. Ivo Karlovic led the way with 136 in his three matches, 40 more than his nearest challenger John Isner, and the Croatian is in the second week of Wimbledon for only the second time in his career.
The 23rd seed faces Andy Murray on Monday and, going up against one of the best returners in the game, will have the potency of his game tested, given there is little else he has in his repertoire that will trouble the No 3 seed.
Murray will fancy his chances of doing to Karlovic what Roger Federer did to him in 2009 when they met in the quarter-finals.
Karlovic had been expected to trouble Federer, but the Swiss was able to dominate any time he got a Karlovic serve back and won comfortably in straight sets.
The key for Murray will be taking his chances when he gets them as there will be many occasions when the ball whistles past his nose at unreturnable speed.
Rise of the big servers
Karlovic is not the only man serving up aces. Kevin Anderson (79), Marin Cilic (78), Vasek Pospisil (67) and Nick Kyrgios (62) have all used their serve to good effect in getting to the last 16.
Tellingly, all of those mentioned, other than Pospisil, are in the top half of the draw and could test defending champion Novak Djokovic.
He was superb in outhitting Milos Raonic in the third round. He will fancy his chances against Richard Gasquet on Monday and also a potential quarter-final date with world No 4 Stan Wawrinka on a surface that is arguably the Swiss player’s weakest.
If he can keep his composure, he has the game to be the player most likely to push Djokovic in the top half of the draw.
Serena v herself
Serena Williams remains the strong favourite to win Wimbledon for a sixth time, but the world No 1 has already shown she is fallible by the bullet she dodged in overcoming Heather Watson on Friday.
Injury and a tantrum are only ever a moment away with Williams, and her foibles, rather than any of her rivals, remain probably the biggest threat to her hopes of winning a 21st major and fourth in a row.
She should have too much for sibling Venus and potential other opponents, including Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova, will hold no fear for her, though a possible rematch with Lucie Safarova, whom she defeated in three sets in the French Open last month, could hold some intrigue.
Put simply, if Williams plays well this week she will be champion on Saturday. If not, that is when business could pick up.
Opportunity knocks
Defending women’s champion Petra Kvitova’s surprise loss in the third round on Saturday to Jelena Jankovic has blown open the bottom half of the draw, with none of the eight players having won a grand slam title.
Fifth-seed Caroline Wozniacki, who faces Garbine Muguruza, and 13th-seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who takes on Jankovic, are the only two of the group to have reached a major final in the past.
But given that Wozniacki has never been beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon before, and Radwanska has endured a poor season and dropped out of the top 10 for the first time since 2010, it is hard to be too confident in the prospects of either of them being the one to step up and reach Saturday’s final.
Opportunity knocks II
Rafael Nadal losing in the second round apart, there have been few major surprises in the men’s draw.
There will, though, be an unexpected name in the last eight after Pospisil and 22nd seed Viktor Troicki meet on Court 12 on Monday.
Troicki has made only one quarter-final major appearance, at the French Open in 2008, while this is already the furthest Canadian Pospisil has advanced at a grand slam event.
Pospisil’s serve – he averages 22 aces a match – has been a big help, but Troicki has a strong grass-court game, too. This is the hardest of the last-16 matches to predict.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
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