Vasek Pospisil reached the last 16 at Wimbledon today by beating British wildcard James Ward 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 8-6.
Ward has been fortunate enough to see the draw open up for him this summer, with initial first round opponent David Ferrer dropping out through injury, meaning he faced lucky loser Luca Vanni instead to start. Pospisil's win over 30th seed Fabio Fognini in round two also helped, but meant that this match was bound to be tough given the Canadian's high confidence from that victory.
Home crowd back Brit
Ward had the backing of Court number one on his side as he prepared to face the world number 56, yet, it was Pospisil who took the first set, blocking out the hostile crowd to overcome the Brit by a single break.
However, Ward bounced back, breaking immediately in the second set to take a 2-0 lead, maintaining this breathing space between him and his opponent throughout to level the scores by winning the set 6-3.
Pospisil had won 100 per cent of points on his first serve, but Ward was taking advantage of his second serve by returning 62 per cent of them and out-thinking him in open play. On his own serve, the Brit was convincing too, winning 86 per cent of points in the second set, an improvement on his first set performance.
The crowd really got behind him now and helped Ward break early on in the third as his momentum started to build. Another break midway through the set gave him the chance to then serve for the set and a lead in the match, and he held his nerve to do exactly this as Court number one erupted with noise.
Posipisil was lively early on in the fourth and was able to break early on, before consolidating this lead with a strong service game that put him 4-1 up. Ward tried to fight his way back into the set, but with Pospisil producing twice as many winners as him, the Canadian had the edge and was able to win it 6-3 to take the match all the way, into a deciding, fifth set.
The crowd really began to play its part here, roaring with support when Ward really needed a lift as things got tight. The vocal backing continued as the players got deeper and deeper into set number five, especially making itself heard when Ward won his fifth service game of the set to force Posipisil to serve to stay in the match.
Ultimately, Pospisil holds his nerve to progress
Yet, he was as composed as ever, winning the game without Ward even getting a point on the board to pass the pressure back over to the crowd favourite. Shortly afterwards, Posipisil would see all important break points too, taking the second of the two as Ward failed to hit a half volley over the net, meaning the Canadian was now serving for the win.
Match points were quick to follow, with the Canadian convincingly seeing the match out, winning by a scoreline that read 6-4 3-6 2-6 6-3 8-6. He will face Viktor Troicki in round four, a man who reached the semi-finals at Queens this year and overcame Rafael Nadal's conqueror, Dustin Brown, earlier today.