Querrey, Riske win Wimbledon 3rd-rounders on day of mixed U.S. results

Four Americans—Sam Querrey, Steve Johnson, Alison Riske and Lauren Davis—were among the first wave of matches on Saturday’s third-round slate at Wimbledon. For U.S. fans, there were mixed results, as Querrey and Riske prevailed while Johnson and Davis fell just short of reaching the second week.

Querrey reaches second week of Wimbledon for the fourth time

Having missed the French Open with an abdominal injury, Querrey continued his grass-court revival on Saturday, moving comfortably past Australian John Millman in straight sets, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (8), 6-3.

There were tricky moments early on, as Millman grabbed an early break for a 3-1 first set lead, but Querrey wouldn’t drop serve—or even face another break point—the rest of the match. He hit 52 winners in the match, including 27 aces, against 31 unforced errors, and closed it out after an hour and 53 minutes.

Querrey has experienced some of the best moments of his career at Wimbledon, reaching his first Grand Slam quarterfinal there in 2016 and reaching his first Grand Slam semifinal at the All England Club in 2017. In both years, he took out the world No. 1—Novak Djokovic in 2016 and Andy Murray in 2017. This is his fourth second-week appearance at Wimbledon, which is more than at any other major.

Riske ousts Bencic to reach second week of Wimbledon for first time

Riske enacted a bit of Wimbledon revenge out on Court 12, battling back from a set down‚ and then from 3-0 down in the third set, to oust No. 13 seed Belinda Bencic, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Bencic had beaten Riske in a nail-biter of a second-round match at Wimbledon last year, fighting back from a set and a break down and saving four match points in the tie-break to prevail, 1-6, 7-6 (10), 6-2. But this time it was the American who came back to win, and she’s now into the second week of a major for the second time, having reached the fourth round at the US Open in 2013.

Johnson succumbs to No. 8 seed Nishikori

In perhaps the toughest assignment for any of the four Americans who were first on, Johnson fell to the No. 8 seed, Kei Nishikori, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. Johnson had recorded his best Grand Slam result here in 2016, reaching the fourth round, but Nishikori has always been one of his toughest match-ups—the Japanese is now 5-0 against the American, losing just one set in those five career meetings.

It was also a milestone win for Nishikori: his 400th career tour-level match win.

Davis’ giant-killing run ends at the hands of Suarez Navarro

Two days after pulling off one of the biggest upsets of the tournament—a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 second-round victory over defending champion Angelique Kerber—Davis hit twice as many unforced errors as winners (30 to 15) to fall to No. 30 seed Carla Suarez Navarro, 6-3, 6-3.

It was still a fantastic run for Davis, getting into the main draw as a lucky loser and then winning back-to-back tour-level matches for the first time since the 2018 Australian Open. Her win over Kerber wasn’t just her fourth career win over a Top 10 player, it was her first Top 10 win at a Grand Slam.