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Vasek Pospisil through to Wimbledon's second week after a five-set win over Brit James Ward

Vasek Pospisil through to Wimbledon's second week after a five-set win over Brit James Ward

WIMBLEDON – When he’s done, Canadian Vasek Pospisil will look back on his career and appreciate the fact that so many of his “firsts” have come on the hallowed grounds of Wimbledon. There really is no better place.

But for now, he has work to do.

The 25-year-old from Vancouver, who won his first Grand Slam title here a year ago in doubles with American Jack Sock, has reached the second week of a major in singles after he defeated British wild card James Ward – and the partisan crowd on Court 1 – 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 8-6 Saturday.

After the traditional off-day on Sunday, Pospisil will have another golden opportunity to go even further as he meets No. 22 seed Viktor Troicki in the round of 16 Monday.

Pospisil and Ward shake, when it was all said and done.  (REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth)
Pospisil and Ward shake, when it was all said and done. (REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth)

“My first one. I’m excited, and not done yet. So I’m still really focused and have a pretty good opportunity now again,” Pospisil said. “It’s going to be a tough match again, but a good opportunity for both of us.”

In a section of the draw that originally contained No. 8 seed David Ferrer and two-time champion Rafael Nadal, you can’t ask for much more.

“Just credit to him really. Of course, it's a chance missed.  It would have been the same for him had I got over the line,” Ward said. “Obviously you look at both rankings and seedings this week, you see a few of the guys have gone out.  Obviously it's a chance. It would be silly to say it's not.”

Pospisil said it was a bit up and down, which is to be expected in a best-of-five match where both players are looking to do something they’ve never done before. 

“But I’m really happy with the way I played in the fifth set,” said Pospisil, who finally found his serve when it really mattered, after struggling to locate his big weapon through the first four sets – and especially the second and third.

Vasek Pospisil of Canada celebrates after winning his match against James Ward of Britain at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, July 4, 2015.                  REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth
Vasek Pospisil of Canada celebrates after winning his match against James Ward of Britain at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, July 4, 2015. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

On paper, Pospisil was the higher-ranked player. He also was the player who had the bigger serve, and a far more varied set of grass-court weapons in his arsenal.

But Ward, who will enter the top 100 for the first time in his career a week from Monday, at the age of 28, had the crowd.

“I just lost the way little bit there, maybe just lost a bit of my concentration (in the middle of the match), and then the crowd really got into it and he started playing better as well, so it was just part of getting the momentum back.” Pospisil said. “I wasn’t nervous (about the crowd), but maybe, even if you’re playing great tennis, it can be a bit of an equalizer if the guy gets some inspiration from it.”

Pospisil went 35-for-49 at the net, a 71 per cent success rate that should get it done the majority of the time.

But his first-serve rate was 43 per cent in the second and third sets. In the fourth and in the decider, he bumped that up to 71 per cent. And that meant that he could dictate a lot more points on his terms.

Still, from 4-5 on, Pospisil would step up to the line each time knowing that if he didn’t hold serve, it would be over. He held at 4-5, at 5-6 and then, after breaking Ward at 6-all, served it out in fairly routine fashion, finishing with a serve and a backhand volley to seal the deal.

It was the same play he had missed in the first point of the game, trying to be too careful. Given another chance, on an even bigger point, he made no mistake.

“It was impressive serving, especially at the end.  We both went through different stages of playing well, serving well.  And, you know, his came at the right time. Towards the end of the match, it was difficult to break,” Ward said.

Pospisil, who has to come back down to reality and play on smaller Court 12 Monday against Troicki (the same court on which he defeated No. 30 seed Fabio Fognini in the second round), said he’ll have a light 30-minute hit on the quiet middle Sunday, and perhaps play a little guitar.

He’ll need to recover; he also has doubles with Sock later on Monday.