Day 7

FEDERER CRUISES THROUGH

Federer made short work of Swede Robin Soderling to enter the last eight stage. The Swiss thrived in 35-degree temperatures to clinch an 11th win in 11 meetings against bigserving Swede Robin Soderling on Monday and reach the Wimbldon men’s singles quarterfinals.

In a repeat of the French Open final, where the great Swiss clinched a record-equalling 14th Grand Slam title, Federer won 6-4, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) over the man who dramatically ended Rafael Nadal’s Roland Garros reign.

Federer, chasing a sixth Wimbledon title, will be appearing in his 25th Grand Slam quarterfinal where he’ll face Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic, who has fired 102 aces in three rounds, or Spanish left-hander Fernando Verdasco.

“Today was really a serving contest, there weren’t many rallies so it’s hard to judge these kind of matches,” said Federer.

Soderling, who also lost in straight sets in the second round here in 2008 to Federer, paid heavily for a sloppy service game when he cracked to trail 4-5 courtesy of a netted forehand.

Federer clinched the opener when the Swede went long with a second service return.

The Swede dropped just three points on serve in the second set, but Federer was the more composed in the tie-breaker, refusing to give Soderling the pace on which he thrives.

Soderling finally carved out his first break points of the match in the ninth game of the third set, but Federer stood firm to lead 5-4.

The Swede 13th seed glanced a chance at 5-4 in the tie-breaker, but Federer went to 5-5 and then match point when his opponent served a third double fault.

The match was Federer’s when the Swede went wide with a dispirited drive. Germany’s rejuvenated Tommy Haas, the oldest man left in the draw at 31, reached his first Wimbledon quarterfinal with a 7-6 (8), 6-4, 6-4 win over Russian 29th seed Igor Andreev.

DJOKOVIC THROUGH

Serbian fourth seed Novak Djokovic beat Israel’s Dudi Sela 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals. Djokovic faces Haas for a place in the semis. Djokovic was a semi-finalist in 2007 while Sela is the first Israeli in the last 16 here in 20 years.

A win for the world number 46 would make him the first Israeli man or woman to make a Grand Slam quarterfinal in the Open era.

WILLIAMS SISTERS WIN

Venus and Serena Williams hardly broke a sweat as they cruised into the quarterfinals. Defending champion Venus easily won the first set against former world number one Ana Ivanovic, who retired hurt in floods of tears.

Serena strolled through against Daniela Hantuchova, while Elena Dementieva also had a comfortable ride into the last eight against Elena Vesnina. Five-time champion Venus is bidding to become the first woman to win a hat-trick of Wimbledon singles’ titles since Steffi Graf claimed three in a row from 1991 to 1993.

The third seed cruised through the first set 6-1 in half an hour, after which Serbia’s Ivanovic had her left thigh strapped up.
The 2008 French Open champion won the first game of the second set, but the pain was too much and she had no choice but to pull out, leaving Court One in a stream of tears.

Younger sister Serena, the second seed, beat Hantuchova 6-3, 6-1 in 56 minutes on Court 2.

The two-time champion easily brushed aside the unseeded Slovak, who has been suffering with a cold and now tackles Belarusian Victoria Azarenka. Fourth-seeded Dementieva, a semifinalist last year, beat fellow Russian blonde Vesnina 6-1, 6-3 in 70 minutes.

Vesnina fended off a set point and took the sixth game but the Russian number two wrapped up the first set inside 29 minutes.

Vesnina, the world No 37, put up a better fight of it in the second set, holding Dementieva at 2-2 before losing serve. Dementieva, making her 11th Wimbledon appearance, now takes on either France’s Virginie Razzano or Italy’s Francesca Schiavone for a place in the semifinals.

Azarenka, the eighth seed, had a tougher time of it to beat 10th-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova. Azarenka won the first set 7-6 (5) on a tie-breaker, after which Petrova called a medical time-out and was treated with ice on her legs. The Russian won the second set 6-2 but lost the final set 6-3.

Meanwhile, Polish 11th seed Radwanska, a quarterfinalist last year, also went through in straight sets, against American teenager Melanie Oudin. World number 124 Oudin, who had to qualify for the main draw, showed plenty of fight but the Wimbledon debutante was eventually overcome 6-4, 7-5.

The new retractable roof over Centre Court was closed on Monday after rain halted play during a fourth-round match with Amelie Mauresmo leading top-ranked Dinara Safina 6-4, 1-4.

BEING SUPERSTITIOUS

Andy Murray’s coaching team is leaving nothing to chance in his quest to become the first British player since Fred Perry in 1936 to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon. The Scot on Sunday revealed the superstitions of his coach that dictate the court on which he practices at the All-England Club. The world No 3 exuded such confidence during the first week that it is hard to imagine his coach, Miles Maclagan, seeing the need for lucky charms or favoured routines.

But Murray said the man he hired in 2007 to replace Brad Gilbert was “a bit weird”.

“My coach is very superstitious so I just go along with his stuff,” Murray said. “He always wants me to practice on a specific court, Court Three, before my first match. If I am playing at 2 pm, then he will make me practice in the same place I practiced the day before. He’s a bit weird like that.”

“There is quite a lot of psychology in tennis but you will rarely see it. John McEnroe has said that he used psychology as a sort of tactic. I wish there was more of it going on, as it makes it more interesting to watch,” said Murray.

WINNING WIMBLEDON

Murray could win this year’s Wimbledon because he has a woman’s touch, according to 1977 women’s champion Virginia Wade.

Wade says Murray has variety in his game as his mum Judy coached him as a kid.

The Sun quoted Wade as saying: “She was such a good coach, she added a few more touch shots to his game rather than just all big boomers.”

Wade, Britain’s last singles champion at the All-England Club, declared: “Andy has got better and better. The guy has got so many options to his game. His best asset is that he retrieves so well and his defensive game is so good. But he also has an aggressive game. He is a lot smarter than a lot of tennis players I see.”

American legend McEnroe said: “Andy’s learnt from his defeats really well over the last couple of years and just continued his good work against Viktor Troicki on Saturday to make the final 16. If you look back at his form in the last year or so, he beat Rafael Nadal in the semifinals at the US Open last September. And he’s taken the world No 3 spot from Novak Djokovic and made it his own. He’s not doing too bad,” he added.

Men's Fourth Round Wimbledon 2009 results:

Roger Federer (2) def. Robin Soderling (13) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5)
Andy Murray (3) def. Stanislas Wawrinka (19) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3
Novak Djokovic (4) def. Dudi Sela 6-2, 6-4, 6-1
Andy Roddick (6) def. Tomas Berdych (20) 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 6-3
Fernando Verdasco (7) vs. Ivo Karlovic (22) 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-7 (9-11)
Gilles Simon (8) vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-7 (4-7), 3-6, 2-6
Radek Stepanek (23) vs. Lleyton Hewitt 6-4, 6-2, 1-6, 2-6, 2-6
Tommy Haas (24) def. Igor Andreev (29) 7-6 (10-8), 6-4, 6-4


Women's Fourth Round Wimbledon 2009 results:

Dinara Safina (1) def. Amelie Mauresmo (17) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
Serena Williams (2) def. Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-1
Venus Williams (3) def. Ana Ivanovic (13) 6-1, 0-1 retired
Elena Dementieva (4) def. Elena Vesnina 6-1, 6-3
Victoria Azarenka (8) def. Nadia Petrova (10) 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-3
Caroline Wozniacki (9) vs. Sabine Lisicki 4-6, 4-6
Agnieszka Radwanska (11) def. Melanie Oudin 6-4, 7-5
Virginie Razzano (26) vs. Francesca Schiavone 2-6, 6-7 (1-7)