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Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal remain on course for a blockbuster semi-final showdown and their first Wimbledon meeting since their classic final in 2008.<\/p>\nRoger Federer and Rafael Nadal remain on course for a blockbuster semi-final showdown and their first Wimbledon meeting since their classic final in 2008.<\/p>\n
Incredibly, the two most successful male players in history have not faced each other on the grass at SW19 since Nadal claimed his first title, 9-7 in the fifth, 11 years ago in what is widely regarded as the greatest match in the history of the Championships.<\/p>\n
The next obstacles standing in their way, in the fourth round, are big-serving Italian Matteo Berrettini and gritty Portuguese 30-year-old Joao Sousa.<\/p>\n
Berrettini is a lively outsider enjoying a decent grass-court season who saved four match points in beating Diego Schwartzman in five sets.<\/p>\n
Federer will be facing the 23-year-old for the first time, and he said: \u201cI don\u2019t know him very well, so that makes it a bit more tricky.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw him play a little bit in Halle and I saw his run in Stuttgart. Now he\u2019s backing it up here again. That\u2019s not easy to do, especially when you\u2019re sort of newer on the tour.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the way to go \u2013 start winning, going deep in those. You gain momentum, you start rolling at the bigger events. He did exactly that. I almost played him in the Halle finals when he ran into (David) Goffin, who I thought played a great match.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m expecting a tough one. I hope he has no energy left. I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll recover. He\u2019s young. I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll see a tough match on Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Berrettini was six when Federer lifted his first Wimbledon trophy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was a child playing tennis I was looking at him, the best player. I was cheering for him,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow I kind of stopped cheering for him when I saw \u2013 I don\u2019t remember which tournament, but I saw his name and then my name in the draw.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it was, like, now I\u2019m playing same tournament, I cannot cheer for him. But I grew up watching him. So for sure it\u2019s gonna be one of dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nadal is facing less of a step into the unknown than Federer, against Sousa, the man who ended Dan Evans\u2019 run.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know each other very well, we\u2019ve practiced plenty of times together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a player who when he\u2019s winning matches, he\u2019s a super dangerous opponent against everybody. He is very quick, very good physical performance. He\u2019s aggressive with his shots, he\u2019s going for the shots all the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a player that, sometimes he loses matches during the whole year. But when he starts to have a positive dynamic, is very, very dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, top seed Novak Djokovic continues the defense of his title against Ugo Humbert, Kei Nishikori plays Mikhail Kukushkin, David Goffin faces Fernando Verdasco and Guido Pella takes on Milos Raonic.<\/p>\n
There is an all-American affair between Sam Querrey and Tennys Sandgren while Roberto Bautista Agut comes up against Benoit Paire.<\/p>\n