Federer knocks out Johnson

Roger Federer felled high-flying Steve Johnson at Wimbledon on Monday, knocking the wind out of the powerhouse with a 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 win in the fourth round on Monday.

Despite considerable pre-match hype about Johnson, fresh from victory at the Nottingham grasscourt event, there was to be no Independence Day party for the burly American, as Federer showed more than enough to suggest he remains on track for a record eighth Wimbledon men's singles crown.

While Andy Murray-supporting Brits have been rubbing their hands with glee over Novak Djokovic's shock third-round defeat, the biggest beneficiary of the Serb's removal may yet prove to be third seed Federer, who on Monday drew level with Martina Navratilova on a record 306 grand slam singles match wins.

Croatian ninth seed Marin Cilic reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals for the third year running after Kei Nishikori quit with a rib injury midway through their fourth round match on Monday.

Nishikori was trailing 6-1, 5-1 when he decided to follow the advice of his coach Michael Chang, who could be heard saying "Don't push it, it's not worth it."

The Japanese fifth seed, who swallowed a pill given by the trainer at the previous change of ends, shook his head at the umpire to indicate he could not longer continue before going up to Cilic to shake hands.

"It was too much pain I could not really compete today. Every point I played it got worse. I did not want to but I had to retire," Nishikori told a news conference.

Cilic's serving was on fire during the first set as he blasted down 12 aces, including four in the first game, and dropped only two points on serve. He won 26 out of 33 points contested as Nishikori surrendered the set in only 16 minutes.

The 2014 US Open champion, who beat his Japanese rival in Flushing Meadows to win his only grand slam title, could not keep up the same intensity in the second set as Nishikori broke back to level at 1-1. But from then on Nishikori failed to win a game and, after dropping serve for the third time in the set, with a double fault, he could not hide his despair.

While Chang indicated with his hands to 'cut it', Nishikori covered his eyes before burying his head under a towel as he slumped into his chair.

When the trainer came on court and handed a pill to Nishikori, it was clear that Asia's number one player was injured and one game later it was all over as muted applause greeted Cilic's passage into the last eight.

Romania's Simona Halep fought back to reach her second Wimbledon quarter-final with a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3 victory against American ninth seed Madison Keys. Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber motored past Japanese pocket rocket Misaki Doi 6-3, 6-1. Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova bundled third seed Agnieszka Radwanska out of the fourth round 6-3, 5-7, 9-7, saving match point on the way.

Sania-Martina in quarters
Defending champions Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis demolished the challenge of Christina Mchale and Jelena Ostapenko to move into the quarterfinals but Rohan Bopanna lost a marathon third round with partner Florin Mergea to bow out.

The top seeded Indo-Swiss pair of Sania and Martina overpowered the American-Latvia combination 6-1, 6-0. Meanwhile, Bopanna and Mergea lost men’s doubles third round 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-8 to Henri Kontinen and John Peers.

Reuters
Results (Fourth round): Men’s: Singles: 28-Sam Querrey (US) bt Nicolas Mahut (Fra) 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-4; 3-Roger Federer (Sui) bt Steve Johnson (US) 6-2, 6-3, 7-5; 9-Marin Cilic (Cro) bt 5-Kei Nishikori (Jpn) 6-1, 5-1 (retd).

Women's: Yaroslava Shvedova (Kaz) bt 28-Lucie Safarova (Cze) 6-2, 6-4; 19-Dominika Cibulkova (Svk) bt 3-Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) 6-3, 5-7, 9-7; 5-Simona Halep (Rom) bt 9-Madison Keys 6-7, 6-4, 6-3; 21-Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Rus) bt 27-CoCo Vandeweghe (US) 6-3, 6-3; 4-Angelique Kerber (Ger) bt Misaki Doi (Jpn) 6-3, 6-1.