Day 5 recap: Kyrgios defeats Raonic; Vandeweghe continues strong play

Wimbledon 2015: Nick Kyrgios defeats Milos Raonic, CoCo Vandeweghe and Stan Wawrinka advance and more Day 5 results.

Author:
Courtney Nguyen
Publish date:
Jul 3, 2015

LONDON – Catch up on the news and results from Day 5 at Wimbledon at the All England Club.

Nick Kyrgios gets revenge over Milos Raonic to advance to the second week: The ink spilled over Nick Kyrgios' on-court antics—He throws rackets! He curses! He curses...a lot!—shouldn't overshadow the most important aspect of Nick Kyrgios: He's got game. In a rematch of last year's quarterfinal, Kyrgios reversed his luck (and his gameplan) to beat No. 7 Raonic 5–7, 7–5, 7–6, 6–3 to advance to the fourth round. After getting blasted off the court in the first set, Kyrgios started jawing with the crowd, threw a racket that bounced out of the court and was caught by a fan and even broke Wimbledon's strict all-white policy with a colorful Wimbledon headband (he was eventually told to turn it inside out). And then he started playing his brand of tennis.

Daily Bagel: The trouble with Nick Kyrgios, Andy Murray's dog and more

After getting burned in prior matches for going too big on his returns, this time Kyrgios went to the chip return to get the ball in play. The tactic worked. His backhand was solid and as he whooped and hollered and ran around No. 2 Court in windmill celebrations, Kyrgios out-played Raonic down the stretch to get his first win over the Canadian.

"I think when I'm in that state of mind, when I feel relaxed and I'm playing around, I think that's when I play my best tennis," Kyrgios said. "I'm focusing, but at the same time I'm having fun. When I find the balance, I play some really good tennis. i thought I was doing that today in the second, third, and fourth. I was chatting tothe crowd every now and then, playing with the ballboys. That's a good place to be out there."

Said Kyrgios: "I like to watch entertaining tennis. Dustin Brown, Gael Monfils, those guys have a lot of fun out there. At the same time, a guy like Federer, I love watching guys like that as well. They're unbelievable tennis players. I'm the biggest believer in not saying nothing out there or being a robot. I feel you should express yourself. It's a sport."

Next up for Kyrgios is No. 21 Richard Gasquet. The two played here last year in the second round and Kyrgios saved nine match points to win in five sets en route to making his first Slam quarterfinal. Gasquet advanced by keeping his clean sheet against No. 11 Grigor Dimitrov, winning 6–3, 6–4, 6–4. The Frenchman is now 5-0 in his career against Dimitrov.

Daily Data Viz: CoCo Vandeweghe advances at Wimbledon with big serve

No slump for Stan Wawrinka: The French Open champion has looked like a man on a mission at Wimbledon. He's into the fourth round without losing a set, booking his spot with a 6–4, 6–3, 6–4 win over Fernando Verdasco. He plays David Goffin on Monday.

CoCo Vandeweghe reels off 12 consecutive games to beat No. 22 Sam Stosur: Vandeweghe has mowed down the competition to make the fourth round of a major for the first time in her career. After straight set wins over Anna Schmiedlova and No. 11 Karolina Pliskova, Vandeweghe lost the first two games to Stosur before winning the next 12 to win 6–2, 6–0.

Belinda Bencic rallies past Bethanie Mattek-Sands: The 18-year-old trailed 1-4 in the first set before taking a medical timeout for her leg. Then, from 1-5 down, she won six straight games to take the first set 7–5 and went on to win in straight sets. Tough luck for Mattek-Sands.

Serena avoids upset against Watson to set up clash with sister Venus

Serena Williams staves off an upset bid by British favorite Heather Watson:The No. 1 seed was broken twice and trailed 3-0 in the third set before turning things around to win 6–2, 4–6, 7–5. The victory keeps her hopes of a calendar-year Grand Slam alive and sets up a clash against her sister Venus in the fourth round on Monday. Read more about the thriller vs. Watson and the matchup against Venus here.

Five-time champion Venus beat Aleksandra Krunic 6–3, 6–2 to advance to the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time since 2011.

Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova take care of business: Djokovic had no problems beating Bernard Tomic on Friday, securing a spot in the fourth round with a 6–3, 6–3, 6–3 win. He never faced a break point and made just 12 unforced errors.

Sharapova has not dropped a set in the tournament and continued her ways with a 6–4, 6–3 win over 29th-seeded Irina-Camelia Begu.