Guido Pella pulled off a shocker by beating third-seed Marin Cilic 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 on Thursday in the second round of Wimbledon.
With the victory, the Argentinian Pella advanced into the third round where he is set to go up against American netter, Mackenzie McDonald. Interestingly, the 103rd-ranked McDonald will also be making his initial appearance in the Round of 32.
"Yesterday, he was playing so, so good and hitting the ball so hard that I couldn't do anything. So the rain helped me a lot," Pella quipped.
Strong Finishing Kick For Pella
Cilic imposed his dominance on Wednesday as he raced off into an early lead by taking the first two sets 6-3, 6-1 on court 1. However, the game had to be stopped after the second set due to heavy rains.
The stoppage proved to be the break Pella needed as he made a rousing comeback the next day by winning the third and fourth sets to force a decider. Cilic made some fighting resistance but the 28-year-old Pella remained calm under tremendous pressure by taking the deciding set 7-5 to move into the third round.
The loss also marked the earliest elimination for Cilic since last year's Australian Open wherein he failed to make it into the quarterfinal round. Cilic also became the second top-eight seed to suffer an early exit after sixth-ranked Grigor Dimitrov bowed down to Stanislas Wawrinka in the opening round.
Nadal And Djokovic Advances
In another match, second-seed Rafael Nadal dominated Mikhail Kukushkin 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. Nadal displayed great resolve against Kukushkin as he managed to win five break points including an eye-popping 77 percent of his second serves. He is hoping to accomplish the French Open-Wimbledon double for the third time after winning both competitions in 2008 and 2010.
Nadal who has two Wimbledon titles on his belt has yet to move past the fourth round since 2011. He is set to go up against a formidable foe in the next round when Nadal takes on Alex de Minaur who eked out a 6-2, 6-7, 7-5, 6-3 triumph over Pierre-Hughes Herbert.
Meanwhile, three-time Wimbledon winner Novak Djokovic beat Horacio Zeballos 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in an hour and 31 minutes to advance into the next round. On the other hand, Juan Martin del Potro beat Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 while eighth-seeded Kevin Anderson survived a second set meltdown to beat Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.
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