Federer Bagels Henman; Women Open Bagel Factory at Wimbledon

The third set was once against very contested, going to a tie-break, in which Tipsarevic opened a 3-0 lead serving. The American would storm back, winning the next four points and eventually take the tie-break 8-6. In the final set, Roddick, who hit 53 winners throughout the match, jumped to a quick lead, breaking the Serbian at 2-1 and winning the set 6-2.

Roddick said: "My whole thing is survive and advance, you know. I'm glad I served myself out of some big situations, because I haven't done that really this year so far. My serve the last couple of weeks has gotten a lot better. I'm just about, you know, survive and advance, that's it."

Eighth seed James Blake again needed four sets to advance, defeating Taipei's Yeu-Tzuoo Wang 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 to avenge his loss to Wang in San Jose earlier this year. Blake next faces Max Mirnyi.

Marcos Baghdatis posted a 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-2 hard-fought win over Alan Mackin to move into the second round at Wimbledon for the first time in his career. The Cypriot, who blasted 24 aces and 72 winners in today?s match, will next face Andrei Pavel.

Colombia's Alejandro Falla posted the biggest win in his career by defeating No.9 seed Nikolay Davydenko 2-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(8), 6-3. Falla, currently No.127 in the INDESIT ATP Ranking, played mainly in the Challenger circuit this season, reaching the finals at Bogota and Mexico City.

The lefty South American will next face German Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Czech Radek Stepanek, seeded 14th, rallied from a set down to defeat former semifinalist Xavier Malisse 3-6, 7-6(4), 7-5, 6-1.
-- ATP

Hewitt Eases By, Ljubicic Struggles to Win
 
Fifth seed Ivan Ljubicic squandered eight match points in four different games before defeating Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 11-9 to reach the Wimbledon second round.

Ljubicic, ranked No. 4 in the INDESIT ATP Rankings, has never been beyond the second round at Wimbledon and has won just three matches in seven appearances. The Croatian fired 32 aces (and survived 26 from Lopez).

Lopez, the best performed Spanish player at Wimbledon in recent years, double faulted on match point at 30-40. Earlier in the set he had twice dug himself out of holes at 15-40, but was unable to do so a third time.

Former champion Lleyton Hewitt breezed into the second round with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 win over Italian Filippo Volandri. The Australian served 12 aces, made just 14 unforced errors and did not drop serve, while breaking Volandri six times.

Hewitt, who won a fourth title at the Stella Artois Championships in his lone grass court appearance before Wimbledon, improved his career record at the All England Club to 22-6. He reached the semifinals last year, the quarterfinals in 2004 and in 2002 he won the title -- his last Grand Slam tournament victory.

Max Mirnyi served 20 aces and withstood 26 from Mark Philippoussis to advance to the third round with a 7-6(6), 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3 win over the Australian wild card. Mirnyi, who is also seeded second in the men's doubles, is now one win away from reaching the Wimbledon fourth round for the third time in four years.

Fourth-seeded Argentine David Nalbandian, a 2002 Wimbledon finalist, breezed into the second round with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 win over Arnaud Clement. The reigning Tennis Masters Cup champion has not dropped a set in the tournament.

Seventh seed Mario Ancic, who looms as Roger Federer's biggest threat in the top half of the draw, made just five unforced errors in his 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 demolition of Italian David Sanguinetti. Ancic reached the semifinals last year.
-- ATP

Seeds Bake Bagels in Early Womens Matches at Wimbledon

LONDON, UK -- It was a busy day at the All-England Club on Wednesday, as the top half of the ladies' singles draw contested the first round and the bottom half played the second round. In the end it was a great day overall for the seeds.

Kicking off the day on Centre Court, Court 1 and 2, respectively, were three of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's marquee names, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Amelie Mauresmo, who all cruised through first round matches. Read more about Williams here.

Sharapova, the No.4 seed this fortnight, kicked off her campaign with a 62 60 victory over Anna Smashnova. Sharapova has been one of this event's breakout stars the last few years, making a run to the second week as a 16-year-old in 2003 and then winning her first major here in 2004. The Russian teen reached the semifinals last year before falling to eventual champion Williams, and this year looks to make another solid run late into the fortnight.

"I do this because I love it, I love to compete, to go out there," Sharapova stated. "The only reason I'm here is to hold the plate at the end of the two weeks. I'm not here to show someone I'm better than others or prove a point. That has nothing to do with expectations or what people think. If that controls you, you should be out of the business."

Mauresmo, the top seed and current world No.1, had an even easier time in her first match, steamrolling Croatian qualifier Ivana Abramovic, 60 60, in 39 minutes. It was Mauresmo's third career double bagel victory on the Tour. She next faces Samantha Stosur, against whom she notched her second career double bagel earlier in the season at Miami.

"It's one of the great matches that I've played here," Mauresmo said on her Wednesday win. "It's maybe tough to judge a little bit after just one match how I feel and how my game is, although I was very satisfied about the way I played today. Not letting any point down or whatever. And also not to spend too much time on the court is another satisfaction for me."

Other seeded players on the top half of the draw winning their openers included No.7 seed Elena Dementieva, No.9 seed Anastasia Myskina, No.14 seed Dinara Safina and No.16 seed Flavia Pennetta. No.11 seed Francesca Schiavone became the biggest upset victim of the tournament so far, falling 36 63 64 to British wild card Melanie South.

Having contested their first round matches on Tuesday, the players on the bottom half of the draw began the second round Wednesday. Among the winners were Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin-Hardenne and Martina Hingis.

Clijsters, seeded No.2, advanced when her opponent, Ukrainian teen Viktoriya Kutuzova, was forced to withdraw prior to the match due to an acute viral infection; Henin-Hardenne, the No.3 seed this fortnight, cruised past Russia's Ekaterina Bychkova, 61 62; and Hingis, the No.12 seed, crushed Tathiana Garbin by an identical score, 61 62. Other seeds reaching the third round were No.5 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and No.10 seed Nicole Vaidisova.

A handful of second round matches were postponed due to darkness, including those involving No.8 seed Patty Schnyder and No.15 seed Daniela Hantuchova.
-- WTA

Four Slam Womens Champs On Today at Wimbledon

LONDON, UK -- Four Grand Slam champions return to action on Thursday as second round action continues. Here's a look at the marquee match-ups:

(1) Amelie Mauresmo (FRA) vs. Samantha Stosur (AUS) -- Mauresmo leads 3-0

Stosur is coming off an impressive straight set victory over new 's-Hertogenbosch champion Michaella Krajicek. The Australian doubles specialist finally advanced to the second round here after three consecutive first round losses. She has nothing to lose against world No.1 Mauresmo, who punished her with a double-bagel earlier this year at Miami. The Frenchwoman, who has made the semifinals here in her last three attempts, also showed no mercy on Wednesday in her rout of Ivana Abramovic.

(4) Maria Sharapova (RUS) vs. Ashley Harkleroad (USA) -- Sharapova leads 2-0

After advancing to the second round here for the first time, Harkleroad runs into 2004 Wimbledon champion Sharapova. The Russian teen won all previous meetings with the 20-year-old American. But she was tested earlier this year at the Australian Open when she had to save three set points but still managed a straight set win. Sharapova was more dominant in their grass court meeting three years ago when she dropped only three games here at the All England Club.

(6) Venus Williams (USA) vs. Lisa Raymond (USA) -- Williams leads 4-1

This will be the fourth Grand Slam meeting between the fellow Americans. While Williams prevailed in straight sets at the US Open in 2001 and at Wimbledon in 2002, Raymond defeated Williams for the first time at the Australian Open two years ago en route to the quarterfinals. Raymond has proven that she knows how to win on grass. In 1999, she defeated Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario here in the fourth round and in 2000 she won Birmingham and reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal here, losing to Venus' sister, Serena. The 32-year-old will have to bring her absolute best against Venus, who holds three Wimbledon titles and an impressive 43-6 record.

(9) Anastasia Myskina (RUS) vs. Martina Muller (GER) -- Myskina leads 1-0

Four years ago, Myskina and Muller battled each other for three hours on clay in the first round of Fed Cup competition. Germany defeated Russia even though Muller lost a tense 76(5) 67(4) 11-9 battle after saving nine match points. 2004 Roland Garros champion Myskina looks to be in great grass court form after her run to the Eastbourne finals. Muller was less successful in her Wimbledon preparation, as she fell in the qualifying draw at 's-Hertogenbosch.
-- WTA

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARB
With Thursday play nearly completed, Wimbledon is back on schedule...Roger Federer handed Tim Henman his 11th career bagel, and first at Wimbledon. Federer also upped his grass win streak to 43 and earned his 100th career Grand Slam win...Equal prize money advocates Venus, Maria, Justine and Amelie all rolled in with wins under an hour yesterday...Janko Tipsarevic was 0-9 on break point chances. If he had converted just a couple of those he'd have beaten Andy Roddick, who had a surprisingly shaky outing Wednesday...Amelie Mauresmo scored her third career double bagel Wednesday at Wimbledon...Roger Federer again wore his Prada/Nike jacket on entrance and exit off Centre Court Wednesday...ESPN's Mike Ryan, who oversees the network's tennis coverage, speaking with USA Today: "Frankly, I'm a little concerned about the emergence of Eastern Europeans because it's harder for them to become stars in the U.S. The next generation (of Americans) isn't there yet."...From Jim Courier blogging on his Champions Series website: "Andre [Agassi] is an emotional being and it will be interesting to see him walk off of Ashe Stadium after his last match. I suspect there will be tears in a lot of people's eyes, including his and certainly mine. For my generation of players AA was the first to light the pro torch and now he is finally extinguishing it, years after we have all moved on, as he competes for the last time for a Grand Slam title. Sure, he will likely play some exo's down the road and maybe even join us on the Outback Series for some friendlier competition but he will not gun for the crown at Wimbledon or the other majors after the '06 Open. I have said in the past that when Andre leaves the Tour that for me it will feel like when your last friend finally graduates from college and you have to face the fact that you're not a kid anymore. Well, it's official. I have to grow up now..."...From the ATP: "ATPtennis.com, the official Web site of men's professional tennis, has launched a new and improved "Doubles Revolution." The redesigned Web section dedicated exclusively to ATP Doubles can be found at www.ATPtennis.com/doubles. The new-look Doubles Revolution, first introduced on ATPtennis.com in January as the Doubles Alley, further incorporates the ATP Doubles Revolution's campaign imagery and themes. The doubles section continues to provide up-to-date news and information while incorporating new features in photo galleries and redesigned team profile pages. Additionally, each doubles story that runs on ATPtennis.com now sports the distinct Doubles Revolution trademark." -- Should have kept it Doubles Alley, or even Back-Alley. Is anyone excited by this, or agree that it is working? Is it getting you excited about Martin Damm and Leander Paes? Does it make you want to buy their trading cards?...From the X-Discussion board's consafos: "(Wimbledon radio's) Joe Stahl sounds like a real deep thinker. So its "hesitation" that loses matches for [James] Blake? Ah, well, that's an easy enough fix. Just go for it Blake! Hit a winner every time! Yeah, cause he never actually misses any shots. They're all winners or unreturnable, except when he hesitates. Right. What's even funnier is the reason that Blake has been having more successful is because he stopped going for so much so often. Is this guy getting paid to be retarded? Because he should send his resume to ESPN."...From Brian Viner of The Independent: "The former Wimbledon champion Michael Stich, in a newspaper column earlier this week, suggested that as a classic serve-volleyer he would have beaten Roger Federer had he played him in 1991, the year he overcame both Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg on the way to winning the title. For what it's worth, I agree with him. It would have been a close-run thing, but I think he would have just about edged it, given that Federer was only nine years old at the time. Otherwise, Stich is surely kidding himself."...Andy Murray writing in his blog: "I walked down the stairs before I went on to the centre court and [Nicolas] Massu stopped to go to the toilet. I like to think he was a bit nervous! As I was standing there I read the inspirational quote "If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters the same". Sounds great but I didn't really understand it. Had a little look at the list of past champions -- [Bjorn] Borg, [John] MacEnroe (sic), [Roger] Federer, [Pete] Sampras, [Andre] Agassi -- and I was like I would love to be up there one day. Maybe I need to understand the quote first..."...From UPI: "Officials at Wimbledon in Britain are looking into irregular betting on a low-level match where a player ranked 259th beat one ranked 89th. Betfair, and online gambling company, said the patterns of betting placed on Richard Bloomfield to beat Carlos Berlocq Tuesday were unusual, The Mirror reports. Bloomfield, the No. 7-ranked British player, beat Argentina's Berlocq in an off-court match that wasn't televised. He said he didn't bet on himself and said he wasn't part of any gambling scheme. The Lawn Tennis Association didn't answer reporters' questions and the head of the International Tennis Federation Grand Slam Committee said they wouldn't comment beyond admitting Betfair passed on secret gambling information to it."...Jerry Magee writing for the San Diego Union-Tribune: "Samantha Stevenson says she is writing a novel. That would be the tennis community you just saw cringing. What Samantha, mother of Alexandra Stevenson, has in mind is a roman a clef that would be to tennis what "The Devil Wears Prada" is to women's fashions. Think of "The Devil Wears Nike." "It's something I know," Samantha says of what is savory and what is not in tennis. She says her novel, with her daughter helping with the writing, is due out in time for Wimbledon 2007. Samantha is not a devil. Consider her a pushy dame if you would. Many do. She is a mother who does everything she can to further her daughter's career, which has not been flourishing since she suffered the shoulder injury that for more than two years has severely handicapped her."...British Prime Minister Tony Blair has come out backing equal prize money for women at Wimbledon...Greg Garber writing for ESPN.com: "[Venus] Williams has always followed an eclectic fashion accessory path, but on Wednesday she was upstaged -- in a bad, bad way -- by [Bethanie] Mattek's retro-Suzanne Somers biker look. In the past, Mattek has worn a leopard-print dress, a 50 Cent-influenced hat and was once fined for coming onto the court at the U.S. Open wearing a cowboy hat. Clearly unaware of her dubious place in the fashion food chain, Mattek sported a pierced left eyebrow, big dangly earrings, a bandanna and, worst of all, some high-top white socks that cost her 10 pounds at Harrods. "I was going for kind of the soccer theme," she said. "All the players in the locker room are like, 'Oh, my God, Beth, what are you wearing today?' I'm not sure how it went over. I just pretty much went on my gut, just...what I felt like wearing today. Hopefully, it was good."