Verdasco fights back to beat Montanes

Verdasco cut Fernando Verdasco came from a set behind to dispose of Albert Montanes in the first all-Spanish match at this year’s Championships. The seventh seed eked out a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) victory played in glorious conditions on No.2 Court this afternoon despite a slow start. It was not that left-hander Verdasco was playing badly in the first set but that Montanes simply slapped the life out of the ball and hit the lines with incredible accuracy, giving the illusion that his top 10 opponent was a tad slow around the court. Verdasco appeared a little taken aback by the speed and ferocity with which his compatriot was returning balls and the all-guns blazing performance was, perhaps, a surprise. After all, the men have met on two previous occasions – Verdasco being the victor on both of those. While he has reached the fourth round twice, including last year, Montanes was making his debut third round Wimbledon appearance so one perhaps might have expected nerves. But there was no sign of them and, by the end of the set, it was Verdasco who had notched up 10 unforced errors compared with Montanes’s two. Visibly annoyed, the seventh seed vented his frustration in a number of ways. At one point, he hammered his shoe with his racket, the next time he slapped his thigh angrily, on another occasion he sent his racket hurtling through air, and then fans saw him frantically pull at his hair. The second set was a different story as Montanes seemed to tire. Drama also unfolded when Montanes dropped a ball very short, Verdasco scrambled to get it over the net, the ball came back and Verdasco hit an incredible reflex volley. Montanes thought the ball had been struck twice and questioned the umpire, but it did not matter, the umpire had only seen one touch and soon the set was Verdasco's. Breathtaking rallies ensued in the third and fourth sets, with the match eventually decided on a tiebreak, which the world number eight commanded from the outset. A forehand winner earned him the match and a place in the round of 16 for the third time in his career. Court 2 - Gentlemen's Singles - 3rd Round Fernando Verdasco ESP (7) 4 6 6 77 Albert Montanes ESP (32) 6 1 4 62

Verdasco serves up battling win

Fernando Verdasco Fernando Verdasco of Spain was forced to fight for nearly three hours before overcoming Kristof Vliegen of Belgium in a battle of the big servers on Court 3. Verdasco, the seventh seed, eventually won 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, the score reflecting the dominance of both players’ serving on a warm day when the conditions complimented power play. Both players maintained the intensity of their serving through to the fourth set when Vliegen was the victim of the only service break. With Verdasco ahead 5-4, and on the match point, the Belgian gifted him the match with a forehand error off the service return. It was always going to be bleak for the loser after such a tight contest in which neither player was prepared to concede anything. With only one previous meeting between them, which Vliegen won at the 2006 Australian Open, there was no form guide. Verdasco, however, is in his seventh Wimbledon and knows the territory well, while Vliegen was seeking a win to equal his best Grand Slam performance. Verdasco has much on his shoulders now that Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal has left him as the highest ranked Spaniard in the field. But after two hours and 55 minutes of toil today he showed that he is a player to be reckoned with. He produced 20 aces against 14 by Vliegen and closed the match out well against an opponent who showed enough defiance to suggest he would have loved to set up a fifth-set showdown. Vliegen celebrated his 27th birthday on Monday but would have liked an extra reason to celebrate today. Verdasco’s seeding here is his highest at a Grand Slam. He started the year by beating the British No. 1 Andy Murray in the fourth round of the Australian Open before eventually losing to Nadal in the semi-finals. He can look ahead to a potential quarter-final here against Roger Federer and the manner of his serving and his attitude today suggest he is well equipped for the task. Court 3 - Gentlemen's Singles - 2nd Round Fernando Verdasco ESP (7) 77 63 77 6 Kristof Vliegen BEL 63 77 64 4

Verdasco vanquishes Briton's challenge

Verdasco focus Sometimes it can seem that there is a gulf a mile wide between two players facing each other across the net. That was the case today when the number seven seed Fernando Verdasco saw off James Ward 6-1, 6-3, 6-4. No doubt the mere experience of playing on No.1 Court will stand Ward in good stead, but Verdasco’s superior skill in every department left the British wild card brutally exposed. Verdasco, an Australian Open semi-finalist this year, spelled out the pattern of the match in the opening game, where his swashbuckling strokeplay plundered an immediate break. Ward, in his Grand Slam debut, was clearly feeling the nerves, struggling on his first serve. He sent an easy volley long before delivering a double fault for break point. It was easy pickings for Verdasco, as he dismantled Ward’s game with horrible ease. The crowd did their best for the Briton, roaring him on when he mustered his first game point with the score at 0-4. He needed three attempts before he could convert the chance, but convert he did to an ovation. But his groundstrokes were drifting long, and 25-year-old Verdasco took the set at a brisk stroll 6-1. The last time a British wild card defeated a seed at Wimbledon was a generation ago, when Nick Brown heroically saw off Goran Ivanisevic in 1991. Encouragingly Ward won his first Challenger title last month, at Sarasota, as a qualifier. But before this afternoon he had never faced a top 10 player before, with the highest-ranked player he has ever defeated being the world number 87 Victor Crivoi at Eastbourne last week. True, both Verdasco and Ward are currently enjoying a career high in the world rankings, but there’s a big difference - Verdasco is at number seven while Ward is 220. At 3-0 to Verdasco in the second, a voice from the crowd called out optimistically: “Come on, Ward! You’ve got him on the run!” Maybe it did some good, because Ward promptly held to love and then held again. He even notched up a break point to put the set back on serve, but Verdasco saved with an ace. Gaining confidence, Ward did not surrender his serve again, so the set had a more respectable appearance than the first, but Verdasco was well within his comfort zone. Even so, Ward was now motoring. First he managed not to yield the opening game of the new set for the first time in the match. Then at 4-3 he held two points for a 5-3 lead and a chance to serve for the set. But Ward put the first in the net and Verdasco outplayed him for the second. The inevitable could be postponed no longer. Ward was tiring, and the Spaniard broke him in the next game before wrapping up the match in 90 minutes.