The defending champion Novak Djokovic, the French Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka and the U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic advanced to the round of 32 on Day 3 as the fifth seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan withdrew ahead of his second round match against the Colombian Santiago Giraldo due to a left calf injury, which he sustained at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle two weeks ago.

Nishikori took five sets to beat the Italian Simone Bolleli in the first round which took a heavy toll and was left with little option but to withdraw. Djokovic defeated Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen 6-4,6-2,6-3 and up next is the Australian Bernard Tomic. Wawrinka beat Victor Estrella Burgos of the Dominican Republic 6-3,6-4,7-5 and next faces the Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco who took out the Austrian no. 32 seed Dominic Thiem.

There were wins for the Argentine Leonardo Mayer, the South African Kevin Anderson, the Americans John Isner and Denis Kudla, Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, David Goffin of Belgium, the Bulgarian Grigor Dmitrov, Frenchman Richard Gasquet, Australian Nick Kyrgios who next faces Milos Raonic of Canada in the third round on Wednesday. Cilic, Verdasco and Baghdatis required five sets to come through. Baghdatis trailed by two sets to the Australian John Millman before he rallied to win in 3 hours and 44 minutes.

Here is a list of matches to be played on Day 4 in the men’s section with my pick mentioned first:-

Roger Federer (2) v. Sam Querrey
Sam Groth v. James Duckworth
Roberto Bautista Agut (20) v. Benoit Paire
Feliciano Lopez (15) v. Nikoloz Bashilashvili
Giles Simon (12) v. Blaz Kavcic
Gael Monfils (18) v. Adrian Mannarino
Lukas Rosol v. Pablo Andujar
Tomas Berdych (6) v. Nicholas Mahut
Andy Murray (3) v. Robin Haase
Andreas Seppi (25) v. Borna Coric
Ivo Karlovic (23) v. Alexandr Dolgopolov
Jo Wilfred Tsonga (13) v. Albert Ramos-Vinolas
Rafael Nadal (10) v. Dustin Brown
Victor Troicki (22) v. Aljaz Bedene
Fabio Fognini (30) v. Vasek Pospisil
Jiri Vesley v. James Ward

Among the ladies there were easy wins for the former champions Maria Sharapova and the Williams sisters Serena and Venus. The French Open finalist Lucie Safarova also progressed as did the former World number One Victoria Azarenka. The seventh seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia crashed out to the American Bethanie- Mattek Sands 6-3, 6-4. Another American Coco Vandeweghe took out the 11th seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 7-6(5),6-4.

The local favourite Heather Watson beat Daniela Hantuchova of the Czech Republic, also advancing were Alexandra Krunic, Kristina Mladenovic, Belinda Bencic, Irina-Camelia Begu, Zarina Diyas, Andrea Petkovic, Samantha Stosur and the promosing American Sloane Stephens who knocked out fellow American Lauren Davis 6-4,6-4.

– Rasesh Mehta [Rasesh Mehta is an analyst with the Tennis Galaxy.You can reach him at the email: sportzcosmos@gmail.com]