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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 3 JULY 2016 51 Sport SPORTTODAY TENNIS - WIMBLEDON Novak Djokovic stunned by Querrey in third round Novak Djokovic is out of Wimbledon before the second week after Sam Querrey defied the odds and an overnight rain delay to cause a huge shock WORLD number one and defend- ing champion Djokovic has been near enough unbeatable over the last two years but Querrey found a way on Court One. After opening a two-set lead on Friday he was left to stew on how close he was to victory all night as the rain washed out the even- ing's play. Djokovic returned to court as the heavy bookmakers' favour- ite in spite of the scoreline and backed that up as he won the third set 6-3. But Querrey, who had only made the fourth round of a grand slam three times before this, found something special once more to take the fourth set and win 7-6 (8/6) 6-1 3-6 7-6 (7/5). He held his nerve once more during that time, with rain hav- ing forced the players off again as he led 6-5 in the fourth set. "I'm ecstatic, it's the big- gest tournament in the world," Querrey said. "I played the break points really well, came up with a big serve, got a couple of losing errors in the tie-break." On how he felt overnight, he added: "He came out and got the first four games, then we had an- other rain delay and I was able to regroup. "He is on the way to being the greatest ever, so I knew he would be mentally tough. I am just go- ing to be happy with this and look forward to the next round a bit." The result will send shockwaves through the tournament and, though he will not say anything publicly, it is a real boost for Brit- ish number one Andy Murray. The pair have been on a con- stant collision course at the head of men's tennis for some time, with Djokovic prevailing more often than not and most recently in the finals of the Australian and French Opens. Many had assumed that the two men would meet in the Wimble- don showpiece too but all that has now changed. When Djokovic returned to court on Saturday, it was still felt a formality that he would win, especially when he won the third set 6-3 either side of another rain delay. That was discounting Querrey. Both players had chances to steal a march at the start of the fourth, Djokovic spurning eight break points and Querrey five over the first six games, with the latter particularly rueful after a shocking forehand into the net on a second serve. The chances continued to pre- sent themselves to Djokovic and as he reached his 12th break point he finally took one, putting a forehand away from a tired- looking Querrey who had to let it go. Remarkably, though, Djokovic was broken as he served for the set. Querrey had already wasted his sixth chance but when the Serb netted a close-range volley, he was back on terms. Querrey then held to 6-5, guar- anteeing himself a tie-break to win it at least, when light driz- zle forced the two men off, with Djokovic given valuable time to get his head together. He could not be saved this time, though, and although he held to a breaker, he made unusual errors - including one final wide fore- hand - to crash out. Novak Djokovic: Shock defeat at Wimbledon Halep and Kerber through KERBER was pushed hard by fel- low German Carina Witthoeft in the first set but moved through the gears in the second to post a 7-6 (13/11) 6-1 victory. She will now meet Japan's Misaki Doi on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals. Halep did not have to worry about the dodgy weather which was again in evidence as she beat Kiki Bertens under the Centre Court roof. The fifth seed won 6-4 6-3 to set up a fourth-round clash against either Alize Cornet or American ninth seed Madison Keys. However, she admitted afterwards an Achilles injury was still troubling her. "I had pain in my Achilles, I couldn't play in Birmingham so I came straight here to practise," Ha- lep told the BBC. "I can say that I am okay, I'm fit now but some days I have pain again. "I don't know what is going on with my Achilles. "For now I was 100 per cent able to play the match and I hope for the next round it will be the same." Halep clawed three service breaks to Bertens' two in a fluctuating opening set, and later admitted winning out early on proved deci- sive. "I'm really excited to be playing the fourth round here at Wimble- don," said Halep. "It's one of my special grand slams. I played good tennis and I'm happy to win in two sets. "I can say I'm not a very big server so I have to exercise a lot the return. She's a big server, but I returned well." Sloane Stephens battled into the third round, coming through in three sets against Mandy Minella. The match was one of several matches postponed overnight due to bad weather, with play resuming at 3-3 in the decider. After the players traded breaks, it was 18th seed Stephens who man- aged to emerge victorious against the world number 126, winning 3-6 7-6 (8/6) 8-6 in two hours and 21 minutes. Timea Bacsinszky made quicker work of her match with Monica Ni- culescu to join Stephens in round three. Trailing 1-0 in the third set over- night, the 11th seed reeled off six games in a row to win 4-6 6-2 6-1. Simona Halep beat Kiki Bertens on Centre Court