Wimbledon Day 7 Live: Tsonga prevails in Isner marathon, Kyrgios sets up Murray clash

For only the fourth time in the tournament’s 139-year history, the middle Sunday at Wimbledon is not a day for rest.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga screams in delight after defeating John Isner 19-17 in the fifth set of their third round match. Julian Finney / Getty Images

• Sunday's order of play | Djokovic shocker, Day 6 round-up

The latest reports and results as they come in during Day 7 of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.

MEN

Tsonga outlasts Isner

A Frenchman being involved in a long — or rather very, very long — fifth set epic against John Isner at Wimbledon had a feeling of déjà vu about it.

However, Jo Wilfried Tsonga made sure he did not end up on the losing side as his compatriot Nicolas Mahut did six years ago after he saved a match point to beat the American marathon man 6-7(3) 3-6 7-6(5) 6-2 19-17. A backhand volley finally carried Tsonga into the fourth round after four hours and 24 minutes of nerve-jangling drama, with the fifth set alone lasting two hours and eight minutes. Isner had a match point on Tsonga’s serve while leading 16-15 but the Frenchman blasted a forehand winner to stay alive and 16 minutes later, he was the one leaping into the air in celebration.

Kyrgios to face Murray

Australian Nick Kyrgios turned on the style to book a Wimbledon fourth round clash with favourite Andy Murray as he outplayed Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez.

The unpredictable 15th seed wowed a packed Court One crowd with a dazzling exhibition of his mercurial skills, knocking off two sets in quick time for a 6-3 6-7(2) 6-3 6-4 after the match had been stopped by bad light the previous evening. A focused Kyrgios took the third set after breaking left-hander Lopez in the eighth game and needed a single break of serve in the fourth set to complete the job.

Gasquet equals Lacoste

Seventh seed Richard Gasquet moved stealthily into the Wimbledon fourth round for the seventh time in his career on Sunday, finishing off Spain’s Albert Ramos 2-6 7-6(5) 6-2 6-3.

The French stylist required only 31 minutes to seal victory on Court 18, having moved two sets to one ahead the previous evening against the world No 36.

Gasquet, who reached the semi-finals last year as he did in 2007, faces compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last 16. His win was his 28th at Wimbledon, taking him to equal fifth on the all-time list for Frenchmen, level with Rene Lacoste.

Exhausted Del Potro bows out

Juan Martin del Potro’s first Wimbledon campaign for three years ended in disappointing fashion as the Argentine crumbled to a 6-7(4) 7-6(6) 7-5 6-1 defeat by Frenchman Lucas Pouille on Sunday.

Trailing by two sets to one when bad light stopped the third-round tussle on Saturday, Del Potro looked jaded as the fourth set sped away from him.

Pouille, seeded 32nd, will face Australian Bernard Tomic in round four. Del Potro, who has had three operations on his left wrist since his last appearance at Wimbledon in 2013 when he reached the semi-final, said the physical toll of his stunning win over fourth seed Stan Wawrinka had taken its toll.

WOMEN

Serena notches win No 300

Serena Williams clinched her 300th grand slam victory as the defending champion raced into the Wimbledon fourth round with a 6-3, 6-0 demolition of Germany’s Annika Beck.

Williams’s triple century moved the world No 1 above Chris Evert into sole ownership of second place in the all-time list, with only Martina Navratilova’s Open era record of 306 ahead of her.

Williams, 34, has now won 82 matches at Wimbledon as she remains on course to equal Steffi Graf’s Open era record of 22 grand slam titles with her seventh Wimbledon crown.

She was in peak form on Centre Court, hitting 25 winners and seven aces as she took just 51 minutes to set up a last 16 clash with Russian 13th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Kuznetsova fights back against Stephens

Svetlana Kuznetsova shrugged off a code violation for on-court coaching as she produced a stirring comeback to reach the fourth round for the first time in eight years with a 6-7(1) 6-2 8-6 win over American Sloane Stephens.

After Stephens had taken a 2-1 lead in the deciding set, the Russian lost her temper with umpire Marijana Veljovic when the Serbian official accused Kuznetsova of receiving illegal coaching from Carlos Martinez, who was sitting in the players’ box.

Pavlyuchenkova reaches fourth round

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has reached the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time. The 23rd-seeded Russian beat No. 11 Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 6-3, 6-2 on Sunday. Bacsinszky made it to the quarter-finals last year, but failed to break serve once on Sunday. She’ll next face Coco Vandeweghe, who beat No. 7 Roberta Vinci in straight sets.

Vandeweghe hails middle Sunday crowd after reaching last 16

American Coco Vandeweghe got the Wimbledon middle Sunday party started on Centre Court, beating sixth seed Roberta Vinci 6-3, 6-4 in front of an excitable crowed who scooped tickets online for the extra day’s play after rain delays scrambled the first- week schedule.

Even before the pair had struck a ball, Mexican waves were rippling around court and an unexpected spurt of water from the mechanism on the open roof forced a few unlucky fans to briefly raise their umbrellas on an otherwise dry day.

Vandeweghe hailed the happy atmosphere, with fans, who would have only known there were coming on Saturday afternoon, cheering at every exhibition-style shot and line challenge.

“It was amazing, really was quite cool. It was similar to [last year] when I played Maria [Sharapova] on quarter-final day. The crowd was really into it,” the 27th seed said as she came off court.

DAY 7 RESULTS

MEN

3rd round

Lucas Pouille (FRA x32) bt Juan Martín Del Potro (ARG) 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (8/6), 7-5, 6-1

Richard Gasquet (FRA x7) bt Albert Ramos (ESP) 2-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 6-3

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA x12) bt John Isner (USA x18) 6-7 (3/7), 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 19-17

Nick Kyrgios (AUS x15) bt Feliciano Lopez (ESP x22) 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 6-4

WOMEN

3rd round

Serena Williams (USA x1) bt Annika Beck (GER) 6-3, 6-0

Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x13) bt Sloane Stephens (USA x18) 6-7 (1/7), 6-2, 8-6

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS x21) bt Timea Bacsinszky (SUI x11) 6-3, 6-2

Coco Vandeweghe (USA x27) bt Roberta Vinci (ITA x6) 6-3, 6-4

Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) bt Barbora Strycova (CZE x24) 6-4, 6-2

Elena Vesnina (RUS) bt Julia Boserup (USA) 7-5, 7-5

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