Nadal marches on, Cilic and Isner out

Rafael Nadal recorded his 50th win at Wimbledon on Thursday

Rafael Nadal emerged victorious following a high-quality and spicy second-round encounter with Nick Kyrgios on Centre Court.

The duo’s clash was highly-anticipated after the words that had been exchanged recently and it delivered in both quality and emotion as Nadal prevailed 6-3 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3).

Nadal made an early statement by surging into a 3-0 lead but Kyrgios countered and continued to show the the type of intensity and flair that he’s famed for when he’s on his game.

Despite some tempestuous exchanges between Kyrgios and the Chair Umpire, and the 24-year-old not apologising for hitting a return directly at Nadal, the Australian was on his game and forced Nadal into tie-breaks in the third and fourth.

The Spaniard, who was more animated than ever, raised his level accordingly and kept his error count lower than Kyrgios’ to progress into the third round for the 10th time in his career. There he will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Nick Kyrgios brought his ‘A Game’ to Centre Court on Thursday

The American ninth seed John Isner looked on course to beat Mikhail Kukushkin being a set away from victory, but ended up falling to a 6-4 6-7 (7-3) 4-6 6-1 6-4 defeat.

Isner, the 2018 semi-finalist, had not played any matches on grass this season prior to this tournament due to a foot injury and that came back to hurt him.

“It’s very disappointing to lose,” he said. “I think my lack of preparation certainly showed today. I knew something like that was very possible. Unfortunately, that was the case.

“It stinks going out early in this event, for sure. But it’s not all bad. I go back home and I can really start to practise and work out and get myself back into better shape with each day.”

Former runner-up Marin Cilic was another seeded player who has made an early exit after losing in straight sets 6-4 6-4 6-4 to Portugal’s Joao Sousa.

The Croatian, who has only made one quarter-final appearance this year, didn’t show the sort of form that we have come to expect from the former US Open champion. It marks the second year running that he has fallen at this stage of the Championships.

Elsewhere Eastbourne champion Taylor Fritz was knocked out by Jan-Lennard Struff in four sets. The German hit an astonishing 65 winners as he downed Fritz 6-4 6-3 5-7 7-6 (9-7).

Sam Querrey’s best run at the Championships saw him reach the last four in 2017

Sam Querrey backed-up his terrific win over Dominic Thiem in the first round by blasting past Andrey Rublev 6-3 6-2 6-3. It was a great serving display for the American who banged down 26 aces on course to victory.

Querrey, who would consider himself to be a grass-court specialist, reached the semi-finals two years ago and won the Queen’s title in 2010. Now cleared of the injuries that forced him miss the clay-court swing, the American will fancy himself to make another deep run this fortnight.

Two-time semi-finalist Tsonga played nothing like his world No 72 ranking would suggest as he dealt with Ricardas Berankis with ease 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 6-3 to book his place in the third round.

Marcos Baghdatis rose to a career-high No 8 in the world

Finally, Marcos Baghdatis bowed out from professional tennis following his second round 6-1 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 defeat to Matteo Berrettini.

Baghdatis struggled to hold back the tears as he soaked up the applause from the crowd on Court Two as they all took the time to pay their respects to a 20-year career.

Follow us at Wimbledon

We will have Wimbledon covered via our website skysports.com/tennis. On the move? Head to our app for mobile devices and iPad, or follow our Twitter account @SkySportsTennis to join in the conversation.