Serena in Tearful Exit, Murray Emerges Despite Loss at Wimbledon
Posted on June 26, 2005
Federer, Roddick Into 4th Rd. at WimbledonLast year's finalists Andy Roddick and two-time defending champion Roger Federer advanced into the 4th round with minimal discomfort Saturday at Wimbledon, three wins away from renewing their grasscourt rivalry.
Federer overcame a second-set tiebreak loss to No. 25 seed Nicolas Kiefer in a 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-1, 7-5 win, and Roddick struggled to maintain interest during a 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(4) steamrolling of the weaponless Russian Igor Andreev.
"It was nice to get someone where I had some rallies and was able to kind of find some rhythm, you know, close it out in three," Roddick said of Andreev, who had his abdominals taped during the match. "That was big for me, as well. All in all, I'm happy. It's always good to get to the second week."
Federer said he should have won in straights against Kiefer, who has beaten him on grass.
"We know each other's game pretty well," Federer said. "I think at times you could see that because we took advantage of each other's game, even though I thought we didn't play bad. I have the feeling I should have won in three, but in the end I'm happy to have won in four really."
Other seeded winners Saturday were (9) Sebastien Grosjean (d. Djokovic in four), (12) Thomas Johansson (d. Tipsarevic), (15) Guillermo Coria (d. Melzer from 0-2 sets down), (18) David Nalbandian (d. Murray from 0-2 sets down), (23) Juan Carlos Ferrero (d. Mayer in four), (27) Richard Gasquet (d. Muller), and (31) Mikhail Youzhny (d. Bjorkman in four).
The No. 312-ranked Brit-Scot Murray had the entire grounds abuzz after taking a 2-0 set lead over the former runner-up Nalbandian, but as the lad had stated before the meeting, "I'll lose the match. Nalbandian is Top 20, he's been to a Wimbledon final, I've won two matches at Queen's, two matches at Wimbledon, and I'm only 18," the result was a self-fulfilling prophesy.
"I was annoyed that I couldn't keep going in the fifth set because I thought I was running around very well in the fourth set," said Murray, who served at 4-3 in the fourth, up two sets to one. "It was after the -- it was the first game of the fifth set where I really started to feel tired, and my right butt was -- when I went for a wide ball or tried to move or when he served wide to my forehand and I put pressure on it, my whole leg just, like, went because I had no power there. I was so tired...that was the first time I played four sets even in singles."
Being in condition and holding his nerve paid dividends for the former runner-up Argentine.
"I think I try to push him to do mistakes, and maybe he feel a little bit nervous on one or two points and he miss one or two easy shots," Nalbandian said. "And then I knew that if I win the fourth set, everything is going to be to me in the fifth."
In the lone seeded upset on the day, Max "The Beast" Mirnyi ousted (28) Jiri Novak in four sets, and in the only all-unseeded match-up, Russia's Dmitry Tursunov beat German Alexander Popp in four.
"He gave me a pretty big gift in the 11th game of the second set -- I was down love-40 on my serve, and I got back," said the California-Russian Tursunov, making good on his earlier win over Tim Henman. "You know, (in a) tiebreaker anything can happen. I happened to win the breaker. After that, I went to the bathroom, kind of looked in the mirror, slapped myself a couple of times. It seemed to work. I started playing better."
With no play on the middle Sunday at Wimbledon, Monday's schedule is (3) Hewitt vs. (24) Taylor "Acci-" Dent, (1) Federer vs. (23) Ferrero in a battle of No. 1s, (15) Guillermo "El Mago" Coria vs. (2) Roddick, (18) Nalbandian vs. (27) Gasquet, (9) Grosjean vs. Tursunov, (21) Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez vs. (31) Youzhny, Max "The Beast" Mirnyi vs. (12) T.Johansson, in doubles highlights (2) Bryan/Bryan vs. Israel's (15) Erlich/Ram, and (10) Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic vs. (26) Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez.
Out-of-Shape Serena Shuttled Out at Wimbledon
Serena Williams' injuries and subsequent lack of conditioning finally caught up with her Saturday at Wimbledon where the No. 4 seed was shuttled out of the event 6-3, 7-6(4).
Advised by her father to skip Wimbledon after suffering a cold and nursing an ankle injury that has not allowed her to keep her physical conditioning, Serena by the end of the second set was heaving like a marathon runner while American journeywoman opponent Jill Craybas looked fresh.
"Horrible," said Serena through tears after the 6-3 7-6 loss. "The only words I can use are foul, so I'm not going to use those words. I didn't do anything right. I think I was better off staying at home...I've never been one to lose well...I think she just got balls back. She didn't do anything -- she didn't have to do anything exceptionally well today."
World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport proceeded safely into the fourth round with a 6-2, 6-1 win over No. 30 seed Dinara Safina.
"I feel a lot better than I did at the French when I was barely winning matches and sets," Davenport said. "That's a positive. And I've played, you know, three opponents that I've been able to take control of the match and dominate. So it's been nice that I've been able to step up and do that."
Other seeds into the fourth round were defending champ (2) Maria Sharapova (d. Srebotnik), (8) Nadia Petrova (d. Black), (12) Mary Pierce (d. (19) Ivanovic), (14) Venus Williams (d. (20) Hantuchova), (16) Nathalie Dechy (d. A.Bondarenko), (15) Kim Clijsters (d. Vinci), and (26) Flavia Pennetta (d. Daniilidou).
"It was a lot tougher than it seemed," Sharapova said of her straight-set victory. "Even though I was up in the first set, thought that she was able, you know, to come up with some good shots and put me in difficult situations...But even in the second set, she had the opportunity to come back into the match. She had four breakpoints at the end of the match."
Clijsters' win puts her up against Davenport in the fourth round.
"I'm definitely looking forward to it," said Clijsters on their first meeting since the Belgian choked a 6-1, 3-1 lead against the American at the French Open. "I think after Paris this is something where, you know, that I -- this is something that, you know, this motivates me. This is a challenge and this is something that I, you know, look forward to playing. I think Lindsay is a great grasscourt player. Her strokes, she hits the ball so precise."
In the only all-unseeded meeting, Czech Kveta Peschke defeated former champ Conchita Martinez 6-4, 6-1.
With no play on the middle Sunday at Wimbledon, Monday's schedule is (1) Davenport vs. (15) Clijsters, (3) Mauresmo vs. (13) Likhovtseva, (16) Dechy vs. (2) Sharapova, (14) Venus vs. Craybas, (26) Pennetta vs. (12) Pierce, (9) Myskina vs. (6) Dementieva in an all-Russian, (8) Petrova vs. Peschke, and Maleeva vs. (5) Kuznetsova.
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
At No. 85, Jill Craybas is the lowest-ranked player to ever beat Serena Williams...Argies Guillermo Coria and David Nalbandian both notched their first career 0-2 set comebacks Saturday...Until this week, Serena Williams had not lost in the first week of a Slam this millennium...There are no more 2005 Grand Slam singles champions left at Wimbledon...Roger Federer has won 32 straight on grass, Maria Sharapova has won 20...Despite his collapse to Nalbandian, Andrew Murray has been tagged for the Top 50 by the US Open by Martina Navratilova...Richard Gasquet is the lone teen remaining on the men's side...Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters, Richard Gasquet, Mario Ancic and Maria Sharapova are all on 8-match-plus win streaks. Did we leave anyone out?...Svetlana Kuznetsova turns 20 on Monday...Weather: Who cares, no play on Sunday. Turn off the computer, get outside...All 16 fourth round matches will be played on Monday...Sebastien Grosjean has reached the Wimbledon SFs here the last two years...Andy Roddick on why he shaved off the scruffy look: "My mom told me I look like shit -- I mean bad...ly. I don't know. She didn't say that. Just, just decided it was gonna go. No real superstition."...California-Russian Dmitry Tursunov as to whether he might attract a clothing sponsor with his success this year at Wimbledon: "I think it's changed. Maybe a couple years ago it would have happened. Now I'm 22. By prodigy standards, I'm pretty old. Neither fish nor fowl. I'm not an up-and-comer and I'm not a veteran either. It's very difficult for me to understand why I wouldn't have a sponsor. Technically there are a lot of people who get free clothes, like Justine Henin's husband, he gets sponsored by adidas even though he doesn't play tennis. I guess to them it means more in terms of exposure. I guess I'm not a big enough exposure for certain companies...I get my racquets for free, yes. I only have two actually, believe it or not. I've had some problems with the racquets, the weights and balancing...I'd broken a couple. I think that also the stick that I'm using is a pretty hard one to get...It's a (Head) Prestige, but it's a slightly different weight and balance. They never have those in stock. It's very difficult to get. It kind of has to be way in advance. You have to call them up. Essentially what a player should be doing is they should have their racquets before the tournament. They shouldn't expect them to show up during the tournament."...Venus on her nutty dad Richard being everyone's pal at Wimbledon: "Well, he makes friends with everyone. Everyone, I mean, really they're on his side -- the drivers, the security, players. Everybody likes my dad. He's just very friendly."...Talk about missing the boat, NBC Saturday in the U.S. shows the deadly-dull Andy Roddick blowout while the crowd is going ape-dookey over the exciting Andy Murray-David Nalbandian match, then they put on the tape of the Maria Sharapova match while Serena was at that moment getting upset, live...Lindsay Davenport, who was supposed to retire last year, says look to see her next year at Wimbledon too: "I hope to be here and playing and everything. I don't really have any 'for sure' plans at this moment. I'm definitely going to finish this year out and hopefully stay healthy. If I'm playing well and healthy, I really think I'll be back next year. There's no reason why I won't. I think the most important thing is how my body responds." Looks like the now-healed foot injury was the reason Davenport thought her career would be cut short...Can Tim Ryan please attempt to stop filling air time with useless babel for ESPN? Silence is OK once in a while, even preferred. During the Andy Murray (or David Murray as Ryan called him without correction) and David Nalbandian match, even a tense silence before a serve was interrupted by Ryan's "Dead silence!" And "There isn't a prouder Scot rooting for Murray than Sean Connery..."? Yikes, diarrhea of the mouth...Andy Murray on after his loss to David Nalbandian: "I was in pain, actually. I sat down and I tried to stand up to go for a shower, and I couldn't do it. My legs were so tired. I ended up sitting down for 10 or 15 minutes. My coach came in, the physio, and I spoke to them for a bit. Obviously, I was a bit disappointed but I wasn't expecting to do so well. I just had to kind of look at the positives. Although it's difficult to take now, I'm sure in a couple of days, when I forget about this match, I'll realize what I've done and be proud of it."