Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal eased into the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Monday, but it was charismatic Marat Safin and home hope Andy Murray who fired up All England Club passions.
Five-time champion Federer saw off 2002 champion and father-to-be Lleyton Hewitt, 7-6 (9/7), 6-2, 6-4 and will take on Mario Ancic, the last man to beat him at Wimbledon, for a place in the semi-finals.
Spanish second seed Nadal, the runner-up for the last two years, saw off Russian 17th seed Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 and will now face Murray, who staged a remarkable comeback to beat France’s Richard Gasquet.
PHOTO: AFP
Murray, bidding to be the first British men’s champion since Fred Perry in 1936, won 5-7, 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2, 6-4 after four hours of an enthralling tie which finished in the gloom on Centre Court.
Safin, a former world No. 1 whose career was seemingly in terminal freefall, reached his first Wimbledon quarter-final since 2001 with a 6-4, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 win over Swiss 13th seed Stanislas Wawrinka.
The Russian, a former Australian and US Open champion, now takes on Spain’s Feliciano Lopez.
PHOTO: AFP
Unseeded Ancic, whose career has been blighted by illness and injury, came back from two sets down to beat Spanish 22nd seed Fernando Verdasco 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 13-11.
The Croatian shot to fame at Wimbledon in 2002 when he defeated Federer in the first round in what was Federer’s last defeat on a grasscourt.
The world No. 1, bidding to become the first man to win six titles in a row, racked up his 63rd successive win on grass by dismissing Hewitt, the last man to win the title in 2002 before the top seed created his private monopoly.
“I underestimated Mario that day,” said Federer, who has since defeated Ancic five times out of five, including a straight-sets win in the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2006.
“I was a little shellshocked. That was my problem. He was new on the tour and it taught me not to underestimate my opponents regardless of their ranking or technique,” he said.
Nadal, the four-time French Open winner, cruised through to his third successive Wimbledon quarter-final, but needed eight minutes of treatment on his right knee after falling awkwardly in the second game of the Court One match.
“I felt something behind the knee. I was scared at the start but it got better later,” the Spaniard said.
Safin hadn’t reached a Grand Slam quarter-final since 2005 when he went on to take the Australian Open.
“It was still black and white television the last time I made the last eight here,” joked the 28-year-old who put out third seed Novak Djokovic in the second round.
Lopez, the 31st seed, reached his second Wimbledon quarter-final with a grueling 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 8-6 win over 2006 semi-finalist Marcos Baghdatis, the Cypriot 10th seed.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Rainer Schuettler and Arnaud Clement struck a blow for the 30-somethings by reaching the last eight and will meet for a semi-final spot.
Schuettler, 32, reached his first Wimbledon quarter-final with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) over Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic.
Clement, 30, the world number 145, also made it through to a first quarter-final with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 over Croatian 19-year-old Marin Cilic.
“I had to come back because I was always trying to work hard, trying to stay fit,” said Schuettler, the 2003 Australian Open runner-up whose recent career has been curtailed by a knee injury and glandular fever.
■ IVANOVIC KEEPS TOP SPOT
AFP, LONDON
Ana Ivanovic will retain her world No. 1 ranking despite the record carnage suffered by the leading Wimbledon women’s seeds.
Ivanovic was top seed here but fell in the third round to China’s Zheng Jie, while No. 2 Jelena Jankovic, third seed Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova, the fourth seed, all failed to make the last eight.
Their dismal performances marked the first time in the Open era that all four top seeds failed to make the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam.
Kuznetsova, who fell in the fourth round to Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska and could have claimed the No. 1 ranking had she won the title, believes the top players suffer because of the short build-up to Wimbledon.
“Grass courts are very tough to get used to, and nobody has time to get used to them after the French Open,” the former US Open winner said.
“None of the other girls went to play one week before Wimbledon, because everybody needs rest. The season is too long. It’s no way from the French Open to get in good shape for Wimbledon. “You have to prepare extremely well and be extremely lucky in the first rounds to get through and then get better,” she said.
Serbian second seed Jankovic, with her knee heavily strapped and furious at being exiled out to Court 18 for her fourth-round defeat to Tamarine Tanasugarn, couldn’t resist complaining about the length of the season.
“We play almost all year. We play almost nine or 10 month which is very hard on our bodies. And we have to compete at the highest level. We have to always be ready. There are no substitutes. It is an individual sport,” she said.
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
HAT-TRICK PREP: World No. 1 Sabalenka clinched her first win of the season, as she aims to become the first woman in 20 years to win three Australian Opens in succession Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini and Taylor Fritz yesterday all clocked impressive wins as tennis powerhouses Italy and the US surged into the quarter-finals of the mixed-team United Cup. World No. 3 Gauff swept past Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-4, 6-2 to avenge a loss at the Paris Olympics, while Fritz took care of Borna Coric 6-3, 6-2 in searing Perth heat. That was enough to put the Americans — last year’s winners — into a last-eight clash with China today, while Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan today are to meet defending champions Germany, led by Alexander Zverev, in the other Perth quarter-final. In Sydney, the in-form
Taiwanese e-sports team Ban Mei Gaming (BMG) claimed second place at this year’s Arena of Valor International Championship (AIC 2024) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, after losing to the Thai team Bacon Time (BAC) in the finals on Sunday In the final match, BMG faced BAC, who finished top in the winners’ bracket, but lost 0-4. However, BMG still walked away with US$100,000 in prize money for finishing runners-up. The AIC 2024 began with 16 teams competing in the Swiss Stage, where teams played up to five rounds. Those securing three wins advanced to the Knockout Stage, while teams
Japan’s national high-school soccer tournament is thriving after more than 100 years, attracting huge crowds, millions watching on TV and breeding future stars, despite professional clubs trying to attract young talent. The annual tournament kicked off on Saturday and is still regarded as the pinnacle of amateur soccer with young players dreaming of playing in the final in front of tens of thousands at the National Stadium in Tokyo. Matches are a massive occasion for the whole school as student cheering squads wave flags, bang drums and roar on their teams in a spectacle of noise and color. “All the
RSS