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Huge upset at SW19 as Novak Djokovic crashes out

Novak Djokovic is getting used to weather assistance
Novak Djokovic is getting used to weather assistance

Novak Djokovic is out of Wimbledon before the second week after Sam Querrey defied the odds and an overnight rain delay to cause a huge shock.

World number one and defending champion Djokovic has been near enough unbeatable over the last two years but Querrey found a way on Court One.

After opening a two-set lead on Friday he was left to stew on how close he was to victory all night as the rain washed out the evening's play.

Djokovic returned to court as the heavy bookmakers' favourite in spite of the scoreline and backed that up as he won the third set 6-3.

But Querrey, who had only made the fourth round of a grand slam three times before this, found something special once more to take the fourth set and win 7-6 (8/6) 6-1 3-6 7-6 (7/5).

He held his nerve once more during that time, with rain having forced the players off again as he led 6-5 in the fourth set.

"I'm ecstatic, it's the biggest tournament in the world," Querrey said. "I played the break points really well, came up with a big serve, got a couple of losing errors in the tie-break."

On how he felt overnight, he added: "He came out and got the first four games, then we had another rain delay and I was able to regroup.

"He is on the way to being the greatest ever, so I knew he would be mentally tough. I am just going to be happy with this and look forward to the next round a bit."

Kei Nishikori

Earlier, Japan's Kei Nishikori brushed past Andrey Kuznetsov 7-5 6-3 7-5 to advance to a fourth-round Wimbledon showdown with Marin Cilic.

The fifth seed won 7-5 6-3 7-5 to the delight of a patient contingent of Japanese fans who had sat wrapped up against the drizzle on Court Three through a lengthy break between the second and third sets.

Nishikori, 26, beat Kuznetsov in straight sets in the second round at the French Open and once again the swashbuckling Russian, 25, failed to find a way to counter the Japanese player's baseline aggression and solid defence.

He broke Nishikori's service in the third set after a first rain delay to go 3-0 up but lost his own after a second shorter pause and, racking up the unforced errors, never got back on top.

Nishikori next meets ninth seed Cilic who beat him in the 2014 U.S. Open final. Although Cilic dashed his hopes of a first Asian men's grand slam title, Nishikori has a 7-3 advantage over the tall Croatian in head-to-heads.

Milos Raonic hurled down a 143 mph thunderbolt serve, the fastest seen at Wimbledon this year, as he toppled American Jack Sock 7-6(2) 6-4 7-6(1).

The Canadian sixth seed fired 27 aces as he beat Sock for the eighth successive time to maintain his hopes of improving on his 2014 semi-final place at the All England club.

Raonic's path to the last four appeared to have got considerably easier on Saturday following the shock exit of the man he was seeded to meet in the quarter-finals.

But Raonic was not about to get distracted by the downfall of Djokovic, who had entered Wimbledon as the holder of all four grand slam titles, and kept his eye on the ball ahead of a meeting with Belgian 11th seed David Goffin.

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