Aljaz Bedene was attempting to further endear himself to the British public by giving them their third man in the third round at Wimbledon for the first time since 1997 this evening. Serbian Viktor Troicki seemed more than happy to play spoiler to the newly-minted Briton's party, however, winning the match 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. The partisan Court 12 crowd saw some nice plays from the newly naturalised British passport holder, but it is Troicki, who missed last year's tournament while serving a one-year suspension for failing to provide a blood sample for anti-doping testing, who advances. 

Bedene started strong, holding to love in his first service game. He followed that up by breaking the Serbian's serve, and again holding at love to go up three games to one. Troicki broke back to even the set at three games each on the first of two break point opportunities given to him when Bedene chose to attempt a drop shot at the wrong time. The former Slovenian made up for his mistake in the next game, going up four games to three after his opponent slipped during a point. The breaks continued, with the 22nd seed breaking, holding and breaking to take the set six games to four. 

The crowd was celebrating during the second set, as the new British number two broke twice to level the match. He won 92% of the points on his first serve and had 11 winners compared to only 4 for his opponent. 

Troicki, who was seen smiling several times when Bedene beat him with pretty shots, regained control of the match when the Brit sent a shot into the net on the game's third break point. The first two had come when Bedene sent the 24th shot of the game's longest rally long. The Serbian broke again in the seventh game and served out the set in the next game, taking it six to two. 

Bedene's hopes for a comeback were made less likely when he was broken early in the fourth set, although he responded well, holding to love in his next service game. He was unable to break his seeded opponent, however, and soon enough Troicki, who finished the match with 12 aces, had match point. He then double faulted on match point, sending the game to deuce and put a shot out wide, giving Bedene the advantage. The world number 75 was not able to convert the break point, and the Serbian won it on his next match point with a nice shot to the outside line. 

He will next face Rafael Nadal's conquerer, the 102nd-ranked Dustin Brown, and fans can be assured a first-time quarter finalist from this section after the winner of Troicki-Brown faces the winner of Pospisil-Ward in the round of 16. 

With Nadal out, @JamesWardtennis, @VasekPospisil, #ViktorTroicki or @DreddyTennis will reach QFs @Wimbledon 1st time.

— Greg Sharko (@SharkoTennis) July 2, 2015