LONDON – Canada’s Vasek Pospisil lost to Andy Murray in three sets in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon on Wednesday.
Murray, the local favourite at the All England Club, beat Pospisil 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 in front of a packed Centre Court that included Prince William and his wife, Kate.
The Centre Court match began with the roof open but after a second rain interruption, concluded after two hours 11 minutes with the translucent structure closed
Pospisil had hoped to join Robert Powell (1908 Wimbledon) and Milos Raonic (2014 Wimbledon) as the only Canadian men to make a Grand Slam final four.
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But third seed Murray proved to be the fresher and more resilient of the pair, with the Scot taking advantage of Pospisil’s fatigue after playing a series of five-set matches in both the singles and doubles tournaments.
Pospisil ended with nine aces but only one break point chance, which Murray saved. Pospisil fired 34 winners in his losing effort.
The 56th-ranked Pospisil suffered his fourth loss in less than a year to Murray as the pair met on grass for the first time.
Pospisil and his seeded opponent had to put up with a 35-minute weather interruption with Murray leading 3-1 in the first set and again left the court with Pospisil up 4-3 in the second set. At that point, the roof was closed to allow play to conclude.
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Murray profited from a break for 6-5 in a game where Pospisil was warned for taking more than 20 seconds between points. Murray took a 2-0 lead on sets a game later when Pospisil netted a service return.
Murray earned the deciding third-set break in the ninth game as he easily returned a cross-court winner off of a Pospisil shot from the back of the court.
The 2013 Wimbledon champion served out the victory a game later to end Pospisil’s tournament on a second match point with a cross-court winner.
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