IT was taxi for James Ward last night even though this son of a London black cab driver so nearly steered himself into the second week of Wimbledon.
The 28-year-old wild card, a regular visitor to Andy Murray's mansion in Miami, played some inspired tennis from a set to love down to accrue a 2-1 advantage against big-serving Canadian Vasek Popisil, but ultimately he was unable to see matters through. He tumbled 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 8-6 in just over three hours on Court No 1 against an opponent standing 55 places above him in the rankings.
The Arsenal fan, who had been congratulated by Gunners owner Ivan Gazidis among others, consoled himself with a £77,000 pay cheque which was the biggest of his career to date and a spot in the world's top 100 players for the first time when the new rankings emerge on the Monday after the tournament.
Ward, who will now turn his attentions to the No 2 singles role in the Great Britain Davis Cup team for the forthcoming quarter final with France at Queen's Club, bemoaned the missed opportunity to reach the last 16. To compound his misery, he was also told off by an umpire for his language, after the intervention of a line judge.
"Obviously if you look at both rankings and the seedings this week, you see a few of the guys have gone out," said Ward. "Obviously it was a chance. It would be silly to say it's not. But it's still progress. It is onwards and upwards from here. It was a couple of points - 8 6 in the fifth set. If you can tell me there's a big difference between both of us, I'd love to know it."
Waiting for Pospisil in the next round is Viktor Troicki of Serbia, who predictably brought Dustin Brown back down to size after his epic victory against Rafael Nadal. The Jamaican-German, who spoke this week of the racism he experienced at the hands of Neo-Nazis, succumbed to the Serb in four sets, essentially suffered precisely the same fate as the Mallorcan's other recent SW19 conquerors from outwith the world's top 100. Lukas Rosol, Steve Darcis and Nick Kyrgios were unable to follow their victories up, and despite some more fantastic moments, Brown couldn't either.
Also seeing off a big-serving opponent on grass - the challenge which faces Murray against Ivo Karlovic on Monday - was Roger Federer against Sam Groth of Australia. Groth, the World No 69, fired in an 147mph serve which was the second fastest in the history of this event, and took a set from the 33-year-old Swiss for the first man in the tournament, but Federer made just eight unforced errors all day and comfortably saw out a 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2 win in two hours and 15 minutes. He now faces Roberto Bautista Agut, the No 20 seed of Spain, in the last 16.
Tomas Berdych, the No 6 seed, took his place in the last 16 while Marin Cilic, the No 9 seed and reigning US Open champion, squeezed through 12-10 in the final set in his re-started match against the giant John Isner.
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