WIMBLEDON -- It was a squirrely day all the way around at the All England Club. There were five rain delays on this chilly Friday and the favorites struggled to find their rhythms.
No. 4 seed Stan Wawrinka was shocked by unseeded Juan Martin del Potro in the first match on Centre Court, while Serena and Venus Williams both were extended to three sets before winning. Venus was fortunate to escape with a 10-8 final frame.
Surely, No. 1-ranked Novak Djokovic would restore order to the proceedings when he met American Sam Querrey on Court No. 1. The match was lit beautifully, as the sun came out in earnest around dinner time. We should have known it was going to be a movie with an implausible plot.
Querrey, who was intent on fashioning the greatest upset of his career, was virtually unconscious for the 73 minutes he battled Djokovic. He was leading 7-6 (6), 6-1 when the rains came again.
It was a stroke of luck for Djokovic, who lost the second set in a scant 22 minutes and seemed headed for a swift defeat. Now, he gets a desperately needed reprieve and a fresh start Saturday, weather permitting.
Sleep will not likely come easily for the 28-year-old Querrey.
Suddenly, at risk were Djokovic's:
Streak of 30 consecutive Grand Slam match victories
Fifth consecutive Grand Slam title
Opportunity for a calendar-year Slam
On the surface, Querrey seemed an unlikely candidate to create drama. He had lost eight of nine previous matches against Djokovic. And the ATP World Tour's No. 41-ranked player had a middling 9-8 record on the grass at the All England Club.
Querrey became the first American to take a set from Djokovic at a Grand Slam tournament since Paul Goldstein at the 2006 Australian Open.
His statistic line was extraordinarily clean.
Querrey hit nine aces against zero double faults and won all 10 of his service games.
The first-set tiebreaker captured the wild oddity of this incomplete result.
Querrey, energized, moved beautifully, largely dictating the points. Djokovic looked tired and a bit out of sorts, constantly casting his eyes toward his team. An errant backhand gave Querrey a 4-2 lead and, after the two switched sides, another bad backhand gave Querrey a 5-2 margin.
Djokovic reeled him in and leveled it at 6-all, but Querrey closed the deal, converting his third set point.
The second set saw Djokovic looking completely miserable. Querrey won 25 of the 40 points.
He couldn't have been happy when the rain returned. Not long after the players left the court, the match was officially suspended until Saturday.
In that span of Djokovic's 30 straight Slam wins, there were only two near-misses, one of them his dramatic comeback from two sets down a year ago here to Kevin Anderson in the fourth round.
That's the template that Djokovic and coach Boris Becker will attempt to replicate. Djokovic has come back four times from 0-2 down, most recently against Anderson.
Querrey is 20-1 in his career when leading by two frames and needs to win just one of three potential sets.
Sweet dreams, Sam.