Robin Soderling moved into the fourth round at Wimbledon with a straight-sets win over Nicolas Almagro.
The Swede, who is seeded 13th, needed a lengthy tie-break to claim the opening set but then eased to a 7-6 (9/7) 6-4 6-4 victory in just under two hours on Court Three.
A French Open finalist earlier this month, Soderling converted two of six break points during the match and also hit 43 winners against the Spaniard Almagro, who is ranked 48th in the world.
Soderling will now face either Roger Federer or Philipp Kohlschreiber in the last 16.
That could mean a repeat of the Roland Garros final, where world number two Federer beat Soderling to lift his first title at the claycourt event.
Serena Williams may have just completed with some ease her 200th Grand Slam match, making short shrift of Italy’s Roberta Vinca in the third round, but the post-match conversations inevitably focused on talk of Michael Jackson’s death.
The American had been one of the first tennis stars to comment - in the early hours via her Twitter account - on the death and it was clear that she was happy to have a chance to pay a fuller tribute.
“He was a great guy, a complete icon. Words can't express my shock and horror. [My] thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family. It's just a terrible, terrible, terrible thing.”
One of his biggest qualities, she said, was his “innovation. He did things that no one else did. Thriller is the best video ever made still to this day. He started a whole new trend with the videos that he did for his songs, no-one had ever even went that far. Dances, singing, beats, everything.” And, as she spoke about Michael Jackson, Serena revealed an inward smile of warmth and appreciation for the man and his work.
Despite her own celebrity status, Serena was still star-struck by Michael Jackson. “Even though I met him, knew him, if I would have seen him on the streets, I still would have been like, AHHH” as she waved her hands in the air, and opened her eyes a little wider. “He is just iconic on all levels.
“I think any celebrity who met Michael Jackson was completely in awe. I know I was. I kept thinking 'Oh, my God, oh, my God. It's him, it's him'. So for me he was the celebrity of all celebrities.
"He's always been famous and he's always been a celebrity. And he's never really had a different life.”
With genuine humility, Serena swiftly batted away a question inviting a comparison between Jackson and the iconic status she and sister Venus have in the tennis world. “I wouldn't even mention my name and his in the same sentence at all.”
Then onto the tennis: the new, 4,000-seater, No. 2 Court caused Serena some issues, more accustomed as she is to playing on Centre Court and No. 1 Court, where players are accompanied to the courtside by an official from the club.
Explaining her six-minute tardiness for her game she said: “Well, I thought someone was gonna come get me. Then I figured, well, maybe I just have to report. I didn't know what to do. So I was waiting, warming up. I was waiting and waiting. Finally I [thought] I'm just going to go out. I'm used to someone coming and saying, Okay, let's go.”
But she enjoyed the experience of the new gladiatorial-style arena, saying “I really enjoyed the court, it worked for me. I actually really liked it”, adding, “the fans are more involved in the match, it seems, more verbal. And it's fun.”
And Serena’s favourite Michael Jackson song? The 1987 duet I Just Can't Stop Loving You with Siedah Garrett.
Tommy Haas gives 100% to try and win the point with a big serve against Marin Cilic.
A four-hour marathon on No.1 Court was suspended in the gathering darkness at 9.33pm with Marin Cilic and Tommy Haas standing level at 5-7, 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) 6-6 in the final set. By the time they were forced to give in to the failing light, both men had saved two match points in an encounter that swung unpredictably this way and that.
Early on this match looked like being an unmitigated disaster for Haas, 31. The 11-year age gap between the players yawned as 20-year-old Cilic blasted away from the baseline. The German was obliged to save two break points to prevent a 0-4 scoreline. But he managed it, inching his way on to the scoreboard at 1-3.
Openings were few for him, even on his own serve, and he also produced double faults at the most unwelcome moments. But he hung on and stayed in touch, although for what seemed a long time he could make no impression on the Cilic serve.
Then Haas held to love for the first time for 5-3, and the one-time world number two seemed to take heart from it. Next game a netcord helped save a Cilic set point, and then suddenly a double fault from the Croatian handed his opponent a thoroughly unexpected break point.
Crucially Haas got the first serve back, and in the subsequent rally Cilic put a potential winner wide. It was 5-5. Haas was gaining confidence visibly, typified by a beautifully judged lob. Meanwhile, errors were creeping into Cilic’s game at exactly the wrong time. Haas forced a break point for 6-5 with an unreturnable forehand, and not only converted it, but served out to love. Out of nowhere, it seemed, he had won the set.
Haas managed to carry enough momentum with him into the second set that he avoided the disastrous opening period of the first. It was sufficiently hard work that that at 3-3 he uttered what sounded very much like an audible obscenity when fluffing a shot on Cilic’s serve, but he received no warning.
A tiebreak looked inevitable until just as before, out of the blue the set turned. At 5-5 Haas found himself with a break point and controlled the rally superbly to convert it. Cilic saved three set points at 5-6 but a fourth was too much and Haas took the set.
Perhaps it was finally beginning to show that Cilic – seeded for the first time this Wimbledon – came into the tournament with no grasscourt form, having lost in the first round at Queen’s. Haas, meanwhile, arrived in SW19 as the newly-crowned champion on the lawns of Halle, having overturned the odds there to defeat Novak Djokovic in the final. Yet still the pattern of this match this evening felt like a shock.
But to vocal encouragement from the very visible Croatian support in the crowd, Cilic broke at the start of the third. He was five games up before Haas could stop the rot but it made no difference. Cilic sent down successive aces to capture the set 6-1.
At the start of the fourth set Haas was moving stiffly, and seemed to be having discomfort in his left foot. But as far as the score was concerned he was back on track. At 5-4 on serve Haas had two separate match points, but could do nothing with either and the set went to the tiebreak. Cilic took command of it and the match moved into the fifth.
By now Haas was tiring, and the 11-year age gap was beginning to show for real. Cilic broke at the first opportunity and got to 3-0 before the match turned again and Haas pegged him back to 3-3. Once again Cilic broke, and once again Haas levelled.
At 5-6, in the last game of the night before play would have had to be suspended in any case, suddenly Cilic at last found a way through again to grab two separate match points, and this time Haas saved both to leave the match on a knife-edge at 6-6.
Mardy Fish tackles Novak Djokovic in the third round on centre court.
Novak Djokovic, the fourth seed and probably the greatest threat to Roger Federer's peace of mind in the lower half of the men's singles draw, marched into the last 16 with a solid and competent 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory in one hour 58 minutes over Mardy Fish of the US.
The Centre Court setting for this match was appropriate reward for the 28th-seeded Fish, who has known some bleak times with injury, especially to the wrist, but he rarely threatened to break his losing streak against Djokovic, which now stretches to four.
It was a good-natured contest, clearly enjoyed by both men as well as the audience. At one point, the 22-year-old Serb challenged (unsuccessfully) on his opponent's behalf against a line call when he had already won the point.
But the prospects of a Fish upset were never realistic once Djokovic had hit his stride by breaking to lead 4-3 in the opening set after a long deuce game terminated by an overhit Fish forehand.
Much of the good fortune also went Djokovic's way. He held serve to lead 5-3 with a dead net cord, but there was nothing lucky about the ace, his third of the match in an overall total of eight, which helped to close out the first set in 38 minutes.
Opting for headgear, and then discarding it in the late evening sunshine, Fish seemed in a similarly mixed frame of mind in the fourth set, falling 4-0 behind. But he shrugged off any negative thoughts with a three-game run of his own and for a while Djokovic struggled to fend off the newly-invigorated American 27-year-old. He managed to do so with the help of another ace and a couple of bad volley errors from Fish and in his next service game won to love, leaving Fish clearly dejected.
With Djokovic below his very best level, however, there remained faint hope for Fish until the seventh game of the third set when he extinguished those hopes entirely off his own racket.
In a deuce game Djokovic was not required to win any of the five points that went his way, since every one was a Fish error. From then on, Djokovic's progress into the fourth round was a formality.
Novak Djokovic took a step closer back to the limelight after disposing of American Mardy Fish in straight sets but may do so reluctantly having enjoyed life under the radar so far in this year’s Championships.
“Right now I feel quite okay, that people are not talking about me too often, which gives me a freedom to perform the best tennis I can on the court,” said the Serbian player.
The world No.4 certainly looked to be back to his best on Centre Court during his third round match and was always in the driving seat despite coming up against his most resilient opponent yet in these Championships.
“I was saying prior to the match that return is probably one of the key elements in the game against Mardy. And I think that element in the game was actually the best today from my side.
“I was making him always play an extra shot, which he obviously doesn't like. You know, he has a big serve and he gets a lot of free points on the serve. But since I returned that well, he was having a lot of ups and downs and very low first serve percentage in.”
Having benefited from a distinct lack of hype, Djokovic will undoubtedly find it more difficult to remain in the shadows during week two where he is likely to face sterner tests both on and off the court.
So far it has been firm favourite Roger Federer and home champion Andy Murray who have hogged the headlines, but as the competitors are gradually whittled down Djokovic could yet attract the increased level of attention that followed his Australian Open victory in 2008.
“I got extreme amount of the pressure and obviously expectations on each event I play on. I had to get used to that and set my mind that the people are looking at me always as one of the favorites in each event I play.
“I didn't cope with that pressure really well in the start of this season, so maybe I lost myself a little bit there. But again, think I'm enjoying it. I do something that I love to do and I’m successful in.”
“Today I performed the best match so far in Wimbledon, which is really encouraging. Match after match I play better, which is always a positive fact.”
The Serbian player looks to be regaining much of the confidence, that has been so apparently absent of late and that could yet prove to be his most potent weapon with Federer likely to be waiting at the semi-final stage.
“I'm taking every match one at a time. I'm really happy and satisfied with today's performance. You know, if I play like today, I think I have a good chances to get far in the second week.
“If I perform like that, there is no reason to underestimate me,” he said.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga battles the fierce Ivo Karlovic serve in the third round.
Ivo Karlovic served his way to victory with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) win over the eighth seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France on No.1 Court.
It was a fine win for the 22nd seed at the age of 30 because he had been beaten in the first round for each of the past four years here and despite having a game suited for grass, may have given up hope of ever making a significant breakthrough at SW19.
The whole of the Croatian’s Grand Slam experiences do not match what he did today with the exception of Wimbledon five years ago when he lost in the fourth round to Roger Federer.
At 6ft 10in. Karlovic is the tallest player to have been ranked in the top 100 and his considerable height is part of the intrigue that surrounds his approach to matches. He is uniquely equipped to serve dangerously and has the fitness and perseverance to do so for as long as is required.
But it is not simply that weapon that put Karlovic into the fourth round where he will face Fernando Verdasco of Spain who will also fancy his chances in a serving contest. The Croatian had to bring a whole package of abilities to the court to cope with the challenge of Tsonga, six years his junior and 13 places higher in the seedings.
Facing such a big server, Tsonga knew what was coming even though he had not played Karlovic previously. But the Frenchman is no slouch himself when it comes to serve and volley, which is why he was able to sustain his challenge for so long.
Karlovic served 46 aces against 26 by Tsonga, which was one way of measuring the gap between them but there was a strong streak of defiance about Tsonga’s manner, which endeared him to the crowd, particularly in the last two sets when he was serving second and chasing rather than setting a target.
Not much in this match was dependent on subtle play. There was no room for that in the grinding tennis for which both players were prepared. If there were some special shots they usually came from Tsonga, such as a backhand crosscourt winner in the second set, a shot through his legs when he faced the back of the court in the fourth. But otherwise it was all power.
Karlovic won two of the three tie-breaks and in that sense finished the match in persuasive style. From 4-3 behind in the final tiebreak he won three quick points. The last, coming from a forehand error by Tsonga off a powerful return, took him to his first match point.
He failed to convert the first but yet another ace settled it. Of course.
Ivo Karlovic in the third round battle of the big hitters with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Two of the most ferocious servers on the ATP World Tour faced each other in the third round, meeting in a Grand Slam for the first time on a packed No.1 Court.
This battle royale between the tallest man on the tour, Ivo Karlovic, and the player nicknamed “The Muhammed Ali of Tennis,” Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, intrigued the crowd watching two players with the best, and third best, first serves in the world.
Just four weeks ago at Roland Garros, Karlovic smashed his way into the record books with the most aces in one match. He hit an incredible 55 aces, breaking his 2005 record set at Wimbledon of 51.
Both players' first serves leave their rackets at speeds in excess of 135mph. The reaction times to return these serves is 0.6 seconds, which is why you have to accept that when the serves go in, they will not come back. On average, Karlovic will win the point 84% of the time and Tsonga 78%.
So, for most of the match, the crowd watched the ball fly by the returner or clip the racket and spray anywhere but in the court. If the ball happened to be returned, Karlovic or Tsonga would be there to clean up the mess as the return would probably land in their court slow and short. In this situation, Karlovic likes to use his reach and pops up at the net to finish the point. Tsonga, on the other hand, prefers to use his forehand.
What makes Karlovic unique is that his serve flies off his racket from a height no one else can match and he can hit the most ridiculous angles harder and faster than any player on the tour. This means the returner has to be very patient and work hard to avoid going the distance to a tiebreak.
In the close-fought battle for first serve supremacy, Karlovic triumphed, winning 89% of the points
The second serves are where both men are at their most vulnerable and have to use ”Plan B”. Karlovic uses his backhand slice to stay in the point and wait to approach the net with his forehand. Tsonga is more versatile, hence his higher ranking, and is capable of hitting winners from anywhere in the court. He tends to play a high risk game that sometimes can lead to the sort of errors that can cost him the match. But, more often than not, it leads to him controlling the points with his raw power, making him one of the top entertainers on the men’s circuit.
In the battle for first serve supremacy, Karlovic triumphed, winning 89% of the points, while Tsonga was just behind the Croatian with 85%. The man from Le Mans was performing well on his second serve, but hesitation cost him in the tiebreak and the opening set belonged to Karlovic.
The first break of the match almost came early in the second set, but it was not converted, so the match entered another “coin-flip” tiebreak, and Tsonga held on to level the match.
In a match where it is nearly impossible to break serve, each player must get the first ones in, especially at the key moments. Sometimes Karlovic can stutter but today Tsonga collapsed under the pressure at the end of the third set, handing Karlovic the 12th game as he achieved the only break of serve in the match in the 38th game of the match.
This put too much pressure on the ninth seed, who capitulated in the fourth set tiebreak, again missing his first serves when they were most needed, to lose the match 7-6, 6-7, 7-5, 7-6.
The whole match was a flawless Karlovic master class, with 90% first serve points won and 46 aces. He was also triumphant 73% of the time on his second serve, so it was no surprise that Tsonga had no break points.
During the rallies, the Croat ventured to the net in 71 of the 140 points he won throughout the match, and, of the 29 points he won off Tsonga’s serve, his reward was one break point out of two break point chances. It is hard to find anything wrong with the Frenchman’s performance, other then bad timing with a few of his 44 missed first serves.
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.
Swede Robin Soderling’s third round victory was much like a famous brand of flat-pack furniture from his homeland: functional, unremarkable and one that took longer to put together than it should have.
Soderling beat Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (9-7), 6-4, 6-4 in just under two hours on Court 3 to set-up a replay of the French Open final against Roger Federer in the fourth round.
It was a workman-like performance in the best and worst sense of the words. Soderling was so consistent on his serve that Almagro did not get a break point opportunity all match. Yet it was hard work for him to manufacture break points of his own.
In the first set, Soderling won his second, third, fifth and sixth service games all to love, while in his first and fourth service games he conceded a total of just three points.
Yet the 12th seed also struggled to break down the Spaniard. In the opening set, he made just a solitary break point opportunity, which he could not convert, thus sending the set to a tiebreak.
The tiebreak was ugly. Two unforced errors, then his first double fault of the match, from Almagro gave Soderling a 5-1 advantage. But the Swede returned the favour with a succession of unforced errors - long or into the net - to make it 6-6. Not to be outdone, Almagro produced a lazy drop shot, another double fault and then a long return to lose the tiebreak 9-7.
The second set continued where the first had let off with Almagro kept at arm’s length on Soderling’s serve. When Soderling broke the Spaniard’s serve in the sixth game it was apparent he was two-thirds of the way to the fourth round – his best performance at Wimbledon yet. The third set was much the same as the second.
Soderling’s greatest weapon remains the roundhouse forehand that he had used to such great effect at Roland Garros – especially against Rafael Nadal. When he got the opportunity to unleash it today, it invariably produced a winner, or set him up for a winner. But the speed and lower bounce on grass means it is a shot he did not get to use as often as he would have liked.
Before the French Open, Soderling had enjoyed the majority of his career success indoors – he has the fourth-best winning percentage indoors among active players. Perhaps he, more than most, will be praying that his showdown with Federer is on Centre Court with the roof closed.
After the match, Soderling revealed he had been troubled by an upset stomach since Wednesday. "I played well today. I was hitting the ball very well, but I got tired. I felt okay first set, but after the first set I was tired. I didn't really move the way I wanted to, but I played okay anyway," he said.
"I didn't play any tournaments since Paris, so I just came here no grass court matches at all. But I felt like I played okay. Today I played maybe my best match so far."
Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova on Court 18 on Day 5 against Ai Sugiyama.
Daniela Hantuchova overcame a shaky start to see off friend and doubles partner Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-3, celebrating the victory with a high-five handshake with her Japanese opponent.
In a match that saw the ball struck beautifully by both women, Hantuchova was under pressure from the start. With two players who not only play together but have similar world rankings – Hantuchova is 32, Sugiyama 38 – a close match was expected, so Sugiyama might have felt that breaking in the opening game would be a crucial advantage.
Certainly every game was closely contested and Hantuchova, who is unseeded at Wimbledon for the first time since 2004, was not afraid to mix up play, throwing in drop shots, lobs, plenty of slice and making regular forays to the net.
Sugiyama, the 2003 ladies doubles champion, was content with pummelling balls cross court and drilling the lines, only charging the net on occasion.
It was perhaps unfortunate that the draw had pitted these two women together. The pair will see enough of each other when they team up as 6th seeds in the doubles.
But while Sugiyama led 6-4 in their single head-to-heads, it was to be Hantuchova who would close the gap today.
The 26-year-old managed to break back to level the match at four games apiece, and Sugiyama began to feel the pressure, missing first serves. Within a blink of an eye, Hantuchova’s fortunes had turned and she was soon in possession of the set.
An exchange of breaks followed early in the second, but the 33-year-old got broken again and the set began to slip away.
When Sugiyama hit a ball long on match point, the friendly battle was all over. There was a smile of sympathy from Hantuchova and the women daintily exchanged kisses before the high- five handshake which underlined their camaraderie.
Or maybe it was a reminder that this is the first of five matches the Slovak needs to win to be a Wimbledon champion. Step two comes on Monday against No.2 seed Serena Williams in the fourth round.
Elena Dementieva required only three games over the minimum as she defeated Russian qualifier Regina Kulikova 6-1, 6-2 in less than an hour. The fourth seed combined her trademark flowing forehands with equally impressive backhands, while her famously fragile service now has the strength and variety – if not yet the consistency – for it to be a weapon on grass.
Despite sharing a common nationality, the two Russians are worlds apart in all other respects. Dementieva is a relative veteran on the women’s circuit at 27 and along with Jelena Jankovic and Dinara Safina, will be seen as an under-achiever until she finally wins a Grand Slam. The closest she has come is near misses at the French and US Opens back in 2004. Indeed, she only has two Tier 1 titles in her trophy cabinet but took gold at the Olympics last year and has since worked her way back into the top five.
While Dementieva has 100 career Slam victories to her name, Kulikova has just two, those wins coming on Monday and Wednesday as she became the only qualifier to reach the third round of this year’s women’s draw.
Injuries have blighted the 20-year-old’s fledgling career, and despite support from the Swiss tennis federation due to her residency in Biel near the country’s capital, she stands at a lowly 191st in the world.
Dementieva’s potted biography talks of her Grand Slam achievements: she has reached at least the semis at all four majors. Kulikova’s lists her favourite surface (hard), shot (forehand) and movie (Top Gun) – the dictionary definition of an unheralded player.
The Kazakhstan native won the toss and elected to receive, hoping to capitalise on her opponent’s notoriously shaky service, and when the first ball nestled in the net, it appeared to be a canny move.
This was as good as it was to get for Kulikova, however, as Dementieva ramped up her serve throughout the first game and indeed the set, alternating speed (up to 110 mph) with accuracy and excellent tactics. Her two aces came by fooling her novice opponent, one with a 90mph slice on first serve and the other with a 105mph offering straight down the middle on the second.
Her running, full-stretch forehands were as impressive as ever – strong, fast, whippy and worthy of comparisons with Rafael Nadal’s – while her backhands were equally noteworthy, either of the one-handed defensive variety or the two-hander, which regularly left her opponent gasping for air as it flew right past her in a first set that was over and done before many people had settled into their seats after an early lunch.
Dementieva saved the first break point against her at 1-0 in the second set, but Kulikova carved out another and took it, much to the delight of the crowd who were happy to support the underdog and were also hoping to get a longer set than the opener. This temporary blip was repeated after the 27-year-old had raced into a 4-1 lead, but again she followed up by breaking back to love, and then served out to pocket the match in less than an hour.
For her to challenge the Williams sisters’ domination on grass, Dementieva will have to serve at 100% throughout and also add a little more variety of depth to her play, but on today’s showing, she is certainly at the forefront of the “best of the rest” category.
Russian Elena Vesnina earned arguably the biggest win of her career to knock out French Open semi-finalist Dominika Cibulkova to reach the last 16 after a titantic duel on Court 18.
22-year-old Vesnina, ranked 37th in the world, eventually got the better of the 20-year-old No. 14 seed, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 in a match lasting three hours and three minutes.
An ecstatic Vesnina, who equalled her Grand Slam best, having also reached the fourth round of the 2006 Australian Open, said afterwards: “I am so happy. Wimbledon is something special. I love this tournament because of the tradition and the atmosphere.
“You always want to do well here and enjoy it because it is the most popular tournament in the world. I’m delighted with my game and my coach is even happier than me.”
Vesnina's win set up a battle of the Russian Elenas in the fourth round with last year's semi-finalist Elena Dementieva lying in wait.
But Vesnina had to show tremendous character to come back from a nightmare start. Cibulkova, who beat Gisela Dulko, Agnes Szavay and Maria Sharapova at Roland Garros, raced to a 3-0 lead. Vesnina battled back and, thanks to some terrific returns, won the next two games. Cibulkova’s game faltered at the end of the first set as Vesnina won nine points in a row to take it. This included a terrific backhand shot from the Russian to break Cibulka to love at 5-5.
It looked as if Vesnina would stroll through the second set as she took Cibulkova’s serve apart, taking a 3-1 lead. But the Slovakian had other ideas and won a gruelling fifth game in which both players wowed the large crowd.
Cibulkova went on to take the set 6-4 and it looked as if Vesnina’s hopes might have gone, especially when she called the trainer to help with a persistent back problem. But the high standard remained and the Russian upped the tempo further in the third set.
In the seventh game, she broke the Cibulkova serve at just the right time and was able to close out the match. She sank to her knees in jubilation after finally sealing victory. “It felt so good,” she said. “I was so excited and was thinking ‘this is just a normal match, it’s not Wimbledon, just serve your good serve’ and I took a risk by serving and volley.
“It was a great match for the crowd. We had a lot of rallies and serve and volley and running from one side to the other.”
Maria Sharapova’s conqueror Gisela Dulko looked to be well on the way towards ousting another big name Russian seed before running out of steam against Nadia Petrova and falling in three sets.
Argentine Dulko, ranked 45th in the world, became a crowd favourite on Wednesday after her unexpected and stylish win over 2004 champion Sharapova. And another upset looked on the cards after she took the first set against Petrova in little over half an hour.
But her play quickly went downhill and, despite much fighting spirit, she could not keep her dreams of further progress alive and ended up on the wrong end of a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 scoreline.
But it had all looked so good early on for the buccaneering blonde from Buenos Aires. Petrova seemed visibly frustrated at conceding the first set so empathically, giving herself a good talking-to in Russian in a bid to psyche herself up for the rest of the match.
Dulko briefly continued her exceptional play in the second, including an advantage battle in the second game, which see-sawed its way through six deuces. Dulko was determined not to concede an early break and that iron will proved to be enough to keep the Russian at bay.
But after winning that epic battle, Dulko seemed to lose her bearings – and the ball’s journey from her racket to the net became a regular one. Suddenly the player that had looked like such an accomplished conqueror of big-name seeds looked a very different player.
The match statistics underline this turnaround in fortunes. In sets two and three, the Argentine only managed to win 20% of her points on return, compared to it being a 50-50 prospect in the opening set.
That meant that Petrova’s ability to regularly pull aces out of the bag - she’s top of the aces leaderboard at The Championships – were now really beginning to hurt her opponent, as opposed to earning her the odd consolation point.
After levelling the match, the experienced Russian broke her opponent in the first game of the second set and then powered down five aces in her first two service games to build a quick 3-1 lead. Although her display from there on was far from convincing, she had already done enough to take the wind out of the sails of the Argentine.
Consistency was the key in this match and it seemed that Dulko just didn't have what it took to keep it up for a full three sets. Petrova spotted her moment early in the second set, committed to a riskier game plan and used it to her advantage to pull off the win in under two hours.
Petrova will next cross rackets with Belarussian Victoria Azarenka, world no.10 and the 8th seed here.
Marion Bartoli, the 2007 finalist, blamed the Wimbledon grass after crashing out in the third round to the evergreen Francesca Schiavone
Frenchwoman Bartoli was unable to reproduce the form of two years ago, going down 7-6 (7-5), 6-0 to the 29-year-old Italian.
But Bartoli, the No.12 seed, was frustrated with the speed of the surface. “I felt like the grass is so slow,” she said. “It's so hard to win one point from the baseline.
“I was keeping hitting the ball, hitting the ball, hitting the ball, and the ball keeps coming back, keeps coming back.
“So when I was trying to come to the net, if my approach shot was not absolutely perfect, she was passing me all the time. So I had to come up with the perfect shot on each point, which is really difficult to do. “
“I think the grass has been getting really slower and slower honestly [since 2007], especially during the first week.”
Both players exchanged breaks during a topsy-turvy first set, which went to a tiebreak.
But Schiavone’s consistent play allowed her to take the tiebreak narrowly 7-5 and she never looked back.
Schiavone has enjoyed a magnificent week, knocking out Aleksandra Wozniak and Portuguese wonder kid Michelle Larcher De Brito. She underlined her form by destroying Bartoli 6-0 in the second set, setting up an interesting last 16 encounter with another Frenchwoman, Virginie Razzano. The No.26 seed had a walkover after Vera Zvonareva withdrew with injury.
“Virginie is a great player on this surface,” said Schiavone. “We are 50/50. She's playing very well from the start of the year. So I will fight and try to do my best.”
There was another shock in the men’s competition as Israel’s Dudi Sela beat No.15 seed Tommy Robredo to reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam for the first time.
Sela crucially won the first set tiebreak and then took the second set 7-5. Spaniard Robredo hit back in the third setting, taking it 6-2. But the quarter-finalist at Roland Garros is out of Wimbledon after Sela took the fourth 7-5 to seal a notable scalp and set up an even tougher match with Novak Djokovic on Monday.
Andreas Seppi, conqueror of James Blake in the first round, lives to a fight another day. He lost the first two sets 6-1, 7-6 to 29th seed Igor Andreev. But the Italian came roaring back to take the third set 6-4. It was 5-5 in the fourth when bad light suspended play. The pair will resume battle on Saturday.
Serena William thrilled to be winning her third round encounter to Italy's Roberta Vinci.
“Well, I thought someone was gonna come get me. Then I figured, well, maybe I just have to report. I didn't know what to do. So I was waiting, warming up. I was waiting and waiting. Finally I was like, Okay, I think I'm just going to go out. I'm used to someone coming and saying, Okay, let's go.”
Serena Williams proving just what a big brave girl she is on Court 2.
“You know, it was quite funny before the match. We were warming up at the same place. We just had to make sure we were not going to sit on the same bench.”
As tough as it sounds, Daniela Hantuchova makes remembering what competition she is playing in and that doubles partner Ai Sugiyama is in fact her opponent sound rather easy.
“Yeah, I mean, it's always nice to play against him. Unfortunate that most of the time you gonna lose.”
Philipp Kohlschreiber at his most dignified and realistic in defeat. The German lost in four sets to Roger Federer.
“I like it, because if I can win with only one shot, I'm, I don't know, a genius, so I like it.”
A fitting repost to all those who those Ivo Karlovic critics out there. Quick and powerful, a lot like that one shot of his.
The Centre Court had an intriguing glimpse into the future today when Victoria Azarenka faced Sorana Cirstea for a place in the third round.
These two 19-year-olds may have been new faces to many at Wimbledon but to each other they are very familiar, having jousted many times on their way through the junior rankings. But Azarenka’s six months’ seniority counts for a lot at this level and after a tight first set her extra experience showed as she won 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.
Azarenka and Cirstea are joined by another fact – each produced the best Grand Slam performance of their careers at Roland Garros this month by making the quarter-finals. And at senior level these two have a habit already of meeting in Slams. At Roland Garros last year Belarusian Azarenka achieved the dreaded “double bagel” (6-0, 6-0) over Cirstea and one month later at Wimbledon, the Romanian managed just four games in defeat.
This first meeting of 2009 was very different. No quarter was given in the first set, and it was clearly about who would blink first. Azarenka’s first serve was formidable. Break points were few and shared almost evenly, but both players held their games together and it stayed on serve.
But what emerged clearly – as always when Azarenka is on court – is her signature combative nature. Not only did she routinely rebuke herself, making no attempt to disguise any thought going through her mind, but she hit the ball with every stroke as if she wished to blow it to smithereens.
For as long as Cirstea kept returning it, which she did, Azarenka’s frustration grew – and with it her trademark shriek, which reduces Maria Sharapova’s grunt to a murmur by comparison.
As often happens, the crowd soon tired of it and began overtly to support her opponent. Azarenka has not only seen all this before but tends actively to thrive on it. If a crowd dislikes her, she can seem to abhor them right back.
Certainly by the time they reached the tiebreak there was no doubting who the Centre Court crowd favoured. But that was just the moment when a couple of Cirstea errors tipped the balance Azarenka’s way, and then the Belarusian brought up four set points with a fabulous crosscourt passing shot. A hammer volley snatched the set.
In the second set Cirstea had a chance to break in the first game but it went away from her. Thereafter Azarenka’s relentless baseline superiority began to emerge more clearly.
She broke at the first opportunity and stretched away to win, greeted by what can only be described as tepid applause from the crowd. It was the first time the Centre Court had witnessed a match between these two, but it will surely not be the last.
Azarenka will face Nadia Petrova on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals.
Bubbly Romanian teenager Sorana Cirstea is a likeable person - so much so that she seems to have a close relationship with almost everyone on the WTA circuit.
Take the third round of this year’s French Open for example, when she took on Caroline Wozniacki. “Caroline is my best friend,” said the 19-year-old from Bucharest. “We do everything together. Sometimes I have trouble leaving my emotions out of my game - it’s hard to forget that when you step on the court.”
It may have been hard, but she most certainly did leave her emotions in the locker room, squeezing past the Dane 7-6 (7-3), 7-5. Wozniacki was one of three seeds whom she beat on her way to the quarter-finals. Alize Cornet was dispatched in the second round and before she claimed the scalp of Jelena Jankovic in the last 16. That three-set epic , which she won 9-7, in the decider thrust her into the general sporting consciousness for the first time.
Cirstea was 14 when adidas approached her and helped her take her first steps on the ITF circuit, but since then she has gone on to re-write her country’s history books. Ruxandra Dragomir was the last Romanian to reach the final of a WTA event, in 2000, which Cirstea emulated at s’Hertogenbosch in 2007, while her appearance in the last eight at Roland Garros also equalled Dragomir’s performance in 1997.
This week, she has again put sentiment to one side to eliminate a close friend from a Grand Slam tournament. After going deep at Eastbourne in the Wimbledon warm-up tournament, Sania Mirza did not have time to re-pack her suitcases before making the short journey north to London SW19, so it was her pal Sorana who stepped into the breach and leant her the necessary clothing – before unceremoniously dumping her out of The Championships in the second round on Wednesday.
Today, the No.28 seed is facing Victoria Azarenka who, despite being the same age as Cirstea, is 19 places above her in the world and defeated her in their two meetings to date, dropping only four games in the process – a 6-1, 6-3 success here last year and a “double bage” (6-0, 6-0) prior to that at the French.
Unfortunately for the Romanian, she and Azarenka have never played doubles together – otherwise she would no doubt have relished the opportunity to send yet another friend crashing out of the tournament.
Kateryna Bondarenko battling to stay in her second round match against Defending champion Venus Williams.
Venus Williams starred in another kind of sister act this afternoon when she faced Kateryna Bondarenko, ranked 73 in the world, for a place in the third round. The older Williams sibling was completely untroubled by the younger Bondarenko sister, winning 6-3, 6-2 in a straightforward display of power tennis lasting just 59 minutes. It was her 16th successive match win at Wimbledon.
The defending champion, now 29, took to the court with a heavy strapping on her left leg above and below the knee. The left is the leg that is key for Venus as she pushes off with her service action – but as she powered down three aces in her opening service game, it did not seem to be causing her all that much difficulty. At 1-1 when reaching for a shot that she dumped in the net, it did seem that she cried out and was on the verge of putting her hand on her leg – but she did not, and the moment passed.
Bondarenko, too, had strapping, although hers was on her right forearm, the one she serves with. She also sported an eye-catching tattoo between her shoulder blades.
As so many find against Williams, Bondarenko was on the defensive from the outset, saving break point in the first game of the match. But it was not long before Venus made the breakthrough. The five-time Wimbledon champion sent a backhand down the line to bring up two break points for 3-2, and Bondarenko sent a forehand way long for Venus to convert the second. Then at 3-5, a massive return from a weak second serve gave Venus set point. Another huge return wrapped up the set.
Venus was watched from the stands by her mother Oracene Price, and also her father Richard Williams, with his new wife Lakeisha Graham. Both parents, of course, play a coaching role in the professional lives of Venus and Serena, but this was the first time observers could recall the two watching a match from the same box since their divorce in 2002.
Richard Williams appeared to see enough to concern him that at 2-1 in the second set he called out: “Come on, Vee!” It seemed more as if 22-year-old Bondarenko was the one requiring encouragement, judging by her body language.
She saved break point for 2-4 with a most wonderful dropshot at the end of a 19-stroke rally, only for successive errors to hand over the tamest of breaks. Venus underlined her superiority with the fastest serve of the day, and within 10 minutes she took the victory with her first match point.
Venus Williams celebrates her victory over Kateryna Bondarenko on Centre Court.
Five-time champion Venus Williams played a jovial game of cat-and-mouse with journalists trying to pin her down on the reason why she had worn heavy strapping on her left leg during her straight sets victory over Kateryna Bondarenko.
When the 29-year-old was asked what had been bothering her, you could spot rows of journalists at her post-match press conference lean forward ready to note down anything that might throw a big – newsworthy – obstacle in the way of her progress towards the latter stages of The Championships.
Williams simply responded that she felt “comfortable in the strap” and it was “really nice”.
Not exactly the answer the press was expecting – or wanting. So on to question two. What was the problem that prompted her to wear the strapping?
Another less than informative reply followed from the normally chatty player. “Just for support,” she explained.
Still things were no clearer so another question followed. “There’s nothing you aggravated, was there, the other day?” another journalist asked.
“No. It’s just for support. That’s all,” she said.
“What caused you to use it, and how did your condition change so that you did use it this time and you haven’t before,” another journalist attempted.
Then the fun and games began. “Well, what happened was that I needed some support, and then I went and got the support, and then I wore it in the match,” she said with just a touch of sarcasm.
“I’ll be wearing it in the doubles too. So it’s working out. I mean, I think all the players might start wearing it because it’s so… supportive,” she laughed.
Williams would not budge on the issue and refused to confirm whether the tape was in aid of anything serious. However, she admitted that she hates the stuff and was only wearing it because the tournament was ‘Wimbledon’.
Even when an effort was made to move on to another subject, another journalist returned to the issue, asking what sort of pain in the leg had prompted the need for the strapping.
By now even Williams was seeing the funny side: “Ah teamwork. It’s just like the men’s doubles!” Again, she added that she felt she needed support on her leg and it had worked well.
It is perhaps understandable that Williams is holding her cards close to her chest – she is competing for her sixth Wimbledon crown and if she is injured, even in a minor way, she clearly will not want her opponents knowing about it.
But there was one element of support the older Williams sister was happy to talk about and that was in the form of American president Barack Obama.
When asked whether she would consider inviting him to watch her at Wimbledon, she said: “Oh, he’s got a lot on his plate. I don’t know if he has time for me. I would be honoured if he was here.”
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