Rafael Nadal struck a blow for Spain on the eve of the Euro 2008 final when he beat Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer to reach the last 16 at Wimbledon on Saturday.
Second seed Nadal, bidding to become only the third man to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same season, won 7-6 (7/3), 6-2, 6-3 and will meet Mikhail Youzhny of Russia for a place in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, women’s second seed Jelena Jankovic limped into the last 16 and avoided joining top seed Ana Ivanovic and third seed Maria Sharapova on the All England Club scrapheap.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
“It’s always difficult to play Nicolas on a fast surface like this, so I am happy to be in the fourth round,” said Nadal, who said he would turn his attention to the soccer showdown in Vienna. “We have an unbelievable team and a very good chance. Myself and some of the other Spanish players will watch the game tomorrow [Sunday] and hope for a win.”
British 12th seed Andy Murray set-up a fourth round clash with French eighth seed Richard Gasquet, a semi-finalist last year, with a 6-4, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3, 6-2 win over Germany’s Tommy Haas.
“I maybe had the chance to win in straight sets but, apart from the last few games of the second set, I thought it was a really good match,” said Murray, bidding to become the first home men’s champion since Fred Perry in 1936.
Gasquet put out compatriot Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, while Arnaud Clement made sure of further French participation by beating Austria’s Jurgen Melzer 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
Germany’s Rainer Schuettler, the oldest man left in the draw at 32, reached the fourth round for the first time since 2003 with a 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 win over Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Schuettler, now 94 in the world after reaching a career high of fifth in 2004, will face Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia for a place in the quarter-finals.
Tipsarevic, who put out sixth seed Andy Roddick in the last round, defeated Russia’s 25th seed Dmitry Tursunov 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
Jankovic escaped entering the Wimbledon black books when she came from behind to beat Danish 30th seed, and 2006 junior champion, Caroline Wozniacki 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 to make the fourth round for the third successive year.
Had she lost, it would have been the first time in history that all three women’s top seeds had been knocked out before the end of the first week.
But her third round win came at a cost, with the 23-year-old picking up a left knee injury which puts a question mark over her fourth round match with Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn.
“I slipped and my leg went straight. I started to feel some pain. It was a struggle, so I needed treatment,” said Jankovic, who was watched from the royal box by Indian cricket star Sachin Tendulkar and Britain’s multiple Olympic gold medal winner Steve Redgrave. “The physio taped it, but I couldn’t move. I had to take the tape off. The physio wasn’t happy about that. Now I will have to see how it will react and I’m just hoping for the best.”
Reigning champion and seventh seed Venus Williams will face Russian Wimbledon debutant Alisa Kleybanova, who put out Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-4, for a place in the quarter-finals.
Russia’s Alla Kudryavtseva, the world No. 154 who put out Sharapova, reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 win over China’s Peng Shuai. She will face compatriot Nadia Petrova.
Russian fifth seed Elena Dementieva also went into the last 16 with a 7-6 (7/2), 7-5 win over Argentina’s Gisela Dulko.
Dementieva will face Israel’s Shahar Peer, who put out Russian ninth seed Dinara Safina, the French Open runner-up, 7-5, 6-7 (4/7), 8-6.
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