It's the Sweet 16! Breaking down every Monday match at Wimbledon

ByESPN
July 5, 2016, 1:21 AM

— -- LONDON -- It's annually the greatest day of the entire tennis season.

Every player left in the singles draw takes the court -- that's 16 matches (eight men, eight women).

In case you missed any of it, we had you covered. Our writers were on the ground at the All England Club when it all went down.

No. 2 Andy Murray vs. No. 15 Nick Kyrgios 7-5, 6-1, 6-4

Key to the match: Murray's focus and complete command removed any chance that Kyrgios could spring a surprise. Murray did not face a break point, had 36 winners and a scant six unforced errors.

What's next: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who will be well rested after Richard Gasquet retired after six games.

-- Greg Garber

Lucas Pouille def. No. 19 Bernard Tomic 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 10-8

Key to the match: This one went into overtime, and was ultimately decided by Pouille's superior ability to defend his second serve, as he won 53 percent of his second serve points (compared to a dismal 40 percent for Tomic).

What's next: This has to be an extremely disappointing loss for Tomic, who needs to hit reset once again to look for a way to demonstrate that he's every bit as good as his sensational countryman Nick Kyrgios.

-- Peter Bodo

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Richard Gasquet 4-2, ret.

Key to the match: A back injury. Plain and simple. Just 24 games in, No. 7 seed Gasquet retired, giving Tsonga the match and pretty much a free ride into the quarterfinals.

What's next: In his third quarterfinals appearance at the All England Club, Tsonga will take on 2013 Wimbledon champion and No. 2 seed, Andy Murray, who leads the series 12-3 and has won the past four meetings on grass.

-- Prim Siripipat

Elena Vesnina def. Ekaterina Makarova 5-7, 6-1, 9-7

Key to match: Makarova allowed Vesnina too many break point chances (15), even though Vesnina made her own life much more difficult than need be by converting only five.

Who's next: Vesnina will be in uncharted territory in her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, but she could have done a lot worse than finding No. 19 Dominika Cibulkova waiting there for her.

-- Peter Bodo

No. 6 Milos Raonic def. No. 11 David Goffin 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4

Key to the match: The rain. With Raonic down two sets, rain intervened and gave the huge-hitting Canadian time to regroup. He came back from a two-set deficit for the first time in his career.

Who's next: The red-hot American Sam Querrey, who is playing the finest tennis of his life. Querrey beat Raonic here four years ago.

-- Matt Wilansky

No. 8 Venus Williams def. No. 12 Carla Suarez Navarro 7-6 (3), 6-4

Key to the match: The third point of the first-set tiebreaker changed the momentum of the match. Venus scorched a forehand return that her opponent couldn't handle and took control of the opening frame.

What's next: A first-time meeting with Yaroslava Shvedova, who at No. 96 in the world, is the lowest-ranked woman in the draw.

-- Matt Wilansky

No. 1 Serena Williams def. No. 13 Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 6-0

Key to the match: Kuznetsova was leading 5-4, serving for the first set, and then Serena responded like a champion. She won the last nine games of the match.

Who's next: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarters. Serena has won all five of their matches and 10 of 11 sets.

-- Greg Garber

No. 3 Roger Federer def. Steve Johnson 6-2, 6-3, 7-5

Key to the match: Keeping points tight. Federer approached the net 40 times and won 33 of those points. He made only four unforced errors on his backhand side, a good sign for the seven-time Wimbledon champ.

Who's next: Tying Jimmy Connors' Wimbledon Open era record with his 14th quarterfinal appearance, Federer moves on to play No. 9 seed Marin Cilic. Last time they played, Cilic aced Federer off the court in the 2014 US Open semifinals.

-- Melissa Isaacson

No. 5 Simona Halep def. No. 9 Madison Keys

Keys to the match: Keys appeared to suffer from a recurring adductor issue during the third set and double-faulted on break point to hand the Romanian a crucial 4-2 lead in the decider.

Who's next: The world No. 5 now faces Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber, who earlier won through against Misaki Doi. Halep, who reached the 2014 semifinals here, has three wins and one defeat against the German, though this will be their first meeting at a Grand Slam.

-- Nic Atkin

No. 28 Sam Querrey def. Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-4

Key to the match: Querrey served the lights out; 52 percent of his offerings did not come back across the net. He had 23 aces and a total of 97 for the tournament, second at the time to John Isner's 114.

Who's next: A maiden trip to a Grand Slam quarterfinal. He'll need to keep up his big-man tennis efforts.

-- Greg Garber

No. 19 Dominika Cibulkova def. No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3, 5-7, 9-7

Key to the match: At three hours, it was the longest women's match of the tournament. The turning point came in the second-to-last game when, at 7-7, Cibulkova won an exhausting 16-point rally to break her opponent for the final time.  

Who's next: Eastbourne champion Cibulkova will be confident, but she may also be tired for only her second quarterfinals appearance after this marathon match. She will play an unseeded Russian there, either Ekaterina Makarova or Elena Vesnina.

-- Leo Spall

No. 9  Marin Cilic def. No. 5 Kei Nishikori 6-1, 5-1 (ret.)

Key to the match: Nishikori pulled out of Halle with a rib injury heading into Wimbledon and struggled with it last week here. It finally caught up with him and he was forced to retire against Marin Cilic, the man who beat him in the 2014 US Open final.

Who's next: Cilic now faces Federer, who leads the Croatian 5-1 in their head-to-head meetings; however, it should be noted they have never faced each other on grass.

-- Nic Atkin

Yaroslava Shvedova def. No. 28 Lucie Safarova 6-2, 6-4

Key to the match: Shvedova, who once had a golden set at Wimbledon, mowed past Safarova, winning 81 percent of her first serves and did not face a single break point.

Who's next: Shvedova, ranked 96th, advances to her first Wimbledon quarterfinal, where the player known more for her doubles will meet the winner of the Venus Williams-Carla Suarez Navarro match.

-- Melissa Isaacson

No. 21 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. No. 27 Coco Vandeweghe 6-3, 6-3

Key to the match: Pavlyuchenkova's forehand, usually exploitable, was extremely reliable in this match. It enabled her to win 57 percent of the points contested at the baseline.

Who's next: Pavlyuchenkova moves into uncharted territory with her first quarterfinal appearance at Wimbledon; will she find the consistency that has eluded her thus far in her career?

-- Peter Bodo

No. 4 Angelique Kerber def. Misaki Doi 6-3, 6-1

Key to the match: The third game of the opening frame set the tone. Kerber returned an 89 mph second-serve floater that Doi couldn't handle. Kerber's average speed on her groundstrokes was only 60 mph (22 mph less than Doi), but she committed only nine unforced errors.

Who's next: A naturally gifted grass-court player, Kerber needs to maintain her composure and not let the big moments get away from her as they did after winning Australia.

-- Matt Wilansky