Andy Murray barged into the quarterfinals of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships with a 7-6 (1), 6-4, 6-4 win over Benoit Paire on Centre Court Monday. It was a fantastic performance from the defending champion who needed two hours and 21 minutes to record the straight-sets win. With the victory, Murray became just the third player in the Open era after Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer to reach 10 consecutive quarterfinals at a single grand slam.
The world no. 1 was clinical in his fourth-round win against Paire, hitting 23 winners and recording just seven unforced errors. Murray also won 45 percent of his receiving points in that contest with the Brit converting five of his 16 break point opportunities. He will look to stretch his unbeaten run at Wimbledon to 12 matches when he takes on Sam Querrey in the quarterfinals. The 30-year-old will fancy his chances against the American as he is 7-1 against Querrey in their head-to-head matchup. Murray defeated Querrey at Wimbledon in 2010, winning in straight sets in the fourth round, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.
Leave it to Sam Querrey to keep the American flag flying at the All England Club. Querrey stormed into the quarterfinals of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships with a thrilling 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-7 (11), 6-3 victory over Kevin Anderson on Monday. It was a gutsy performance from Querrey who needed three hours and seven minutes to outlast the South African.
Key to Querrey’s impressive victory was his towering serve. He converted 67 percent of his first serves against Anderson with the American winning 93 of his 113 first serve points (82 percent success rate). Querrey also finished the match with a whopping 31 aces. He’s second in this tournament when it comes to that particular department (99 total aces).
The American will need to bring that killer serve this coming Wednesday if he is beat Andy Murray. He is 14th in the ATP Tour in serve rating with an incredible 279.9 clip. Querrey’s success will largely depend on his first serve. The world no. 28 is second in the ATP Tour in first serve percentage points won with a solid 81.0 percent clip. If Querrey’s first serve is right on target in the quarterfinals, it’s going to be a long afternoon for Murray.
