Day 6 of the men’s draw at Wimbledon saw all Top 8 seeds left win without dropping a single set. The only upsets on Day 6 arguably were Fabio Fognini’s defeat against Tennys Sandgren and Jan-Lennard Struff’s against Mikhail Kukushkin.
Wimbledon Men’s Day 6
Who looked good:
Roger Federer looked ominous in his straight set against Lucas Pouille, dominating the entire match and winning some truly unbelievable points, showing all of his talent, touch and flair. The Swiss has shown that he’s ready to gun for 21st Slam title and 9th at Wimbledon next week. Berrettini awaits him in the next round.
Rafael Nadal made surprisingly easy work of Jo Wilfried Tsonga. The Frenchman is one of the best players never to win a Slam, with several wins over all the Big 3 at this level, including Federer at Wimbledon, but he couldn’t muster anywhere near to that sort of performance this time around against Nadal. Nadal lost only 10 points on serve the entire match and will surely be relieved after a tough tussle with Nick Kyrgios in the previous round.
Kei Nishikori has reached the fourth round of a Slam without losing a set for the first time since Roland Garros 2015. Known for making things tough for himself in the early rounds, this time Nishikori is dispatching inferior opponents with ease and quickness and should have plenty of energy left for the second week. His next opponents is Kukushkin, against whom Nishikori is 9-0 against and has won the last 13 sets.
Sam Querrey has continued his run with a straight set win over John Millman on the back of dominant serving and forehands. The American got broken for the first time in the tournament early in the first set but broke back right away and didn’t concede another break point for the rest of the match. Querrey will now be a heavy favorite against Sandgren and could then be looking at a quarterfinal matchup against Nadal, whom he has beaten in their most recent match in the 2017 Acapulco final.
Who looked bad:
Fabio Fognini had a golden chance to reach a maiden Wimbledon Round 4, but he looked totally out of it for most of the match, frustrated by his opponent’s good play and by playing in a small court (court 14). The Italian will still be reaching a new career high at #9 in the world when the rankings next come out unless the likes of Matteo Berrettini, Milos Raonic, Roberto Bautista Agut, David Goffin, Guido Pella, Fernando Verdasco or Benoit Paire win the tournament.
Jan Leonard Struff was the clear favorite to make the second week, but couldn’t produce his best level and ended up losing a close 4-setter to Kukushkin, who will be making his Wimbledon second week debut himself. The match was marred by a woman having a heart attack in the stands, which provoked a 1 hour delay and caused an enormous scare to all involved.
Jo Wilfried Tsonga was expected to be a difficult opponent for Nadal given his track record at Slams against the top players, but he couldn’t put up a fight at all. It’s too early to write his career obituary, but his giant killing and Slam contending days seem to be over, with injuries and age getting the better of him.
Match of the day:
The award today has to go to João Sousa vs Daniel Evans. The match wasn’t the highest quality but it was super intense and dramatic, with the crowd getting really involved in it supporting Evans and the roof closing for the deciding set. Evans was a break up in all 5 sets but ended up losing in 5 against the always tenacious and resilient Sousa, who has booked a center court meeting with Rafael Nadal on Manic Monday.
Main Photo from Getty
