LONDON, (Reuters) – Rafa Nadal may have left the stage but the smooth progress into Wimbledon’s second week of the remaining members of tennis’s established powerbase suggests further upsets are unlikely in the men’s last 16 today.
The ‘Big Four’ have been whittled down to a top three, but for Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray, who were largely untroubled in their opening matches, there seems no end on the horizon to their dominance at the All England Club.
The trio, along with Nadal, have had a monopoly on the Wimbledon title after Lleyton Hewitt beat David Nalbandian to lift the Challenge Cup trophy in 2002.
On the evidence of the first week, only Stan Wawrinka, winner of two of the last six majors including last month’s French Open, looks capable of stealing a march on the top three.
The hard work of maintaining promising starts, however, is likely to begin with more testing encounters today. The relentless retriever Djokovic faces the towering figure of Kevin Anderson, Federer’s quest for a record eighth Wimbledon title continues against Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut and Murray faces the huge-serving Ivo Karlovic.
